


Chaos Born

by DaydreamingDuma



Series: The Chaos Born Trilogy [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: All-star cast - Freeform, Angst, Backstory, Bit dark in Chapter 34, Character Study, Childhood Trauma, Evenly distributed Whumping for all, F/M, Implied/Referenced Torture, Imprisonment, Kidnapping, Lots of Brotherly Moments, Original Tails Child, Possible Theory, Sonic lore, adult characters, early stages of pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-01-31 07:08:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 67,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21442216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaydreamingDuma/pseuds/DaydreamingDuma
Summary: Science can explain anyone on Mobius... but not Sonic. Why is it that the one we think we ought to know the most about is the one we actually actually know the least?Set in the future when our heroes have grown into adults but are still fighting for freedom, all it takes is for one little disturbance to set off a chain of events that might just reveal exactly how and why the 'fastest thing alive' earned that title in the first place."The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and you do not know where it is going."-(John 3:8)
Relationships: Amy Rose/Sonic the Hedgehog, Blaze the Cat/Silver the Hedgehog, Cosmo the Seedrian/Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna/Rouge the Bat, Miles "Tails" Prower/Zooey (Sonic Boom), Queen Aleena Hedgehog/Jules Hedgehog
Series: The Chaos Born Trilogy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2011948
Comments: 40
Kudos: 108





	1. Prologue

They had been found.

Jules burst into the house, his face drawn and pale.

“Aleena!” he shouted, in an attempt to find bags, supplies - anything! “Aleena!” he shouted again, “Children, all of you!”

Form the kitchen appeared a raspberry purple coloured hedgehog with long, elegant quills and a bewildered expression on her face.

“What’s the matter?” she asked her husband, “What in Chaos is the matter?”

The terror of her usually calm husband unnerved her to the core and his strong green eyes were ablaze with anger.

“They found us,” he practically choked, “They’re coming for him.”

Aleena had to seize the doorframe to prevent herself from falling. Her eyes darted to the stairs where one hoglet, the same colour as her mother, had frozen in mid-step, tears pooling in her eyes. She had, no doubt, come to answer her father’s call and had heard the devastating news. “Sonia, darling, grab your bag and your brothers. We’re leaving,” Jules said, calmly but firmly. Aleena dashed past him to help her children, trembling with rage and fear. The pale blue hedgehog simply continued throwing things in a bag, desperate to put as much distance between his family and this house which had been a happy family home for nearly five years. Ever since the birth of the triplets, Jules had been living a life on edge, hiding his precious family away from sinister forces. Now it was all starting to catch up with them and there was little time to waste. If any.

_”You can’t keep him forever,”_ a voice echoed in the back of his head, a malevolent sound from the day that should have been one of merriment for he and his wife, _“Try and hide him all you like. But we’ll come for your son one day. You can’t keep him.”_

Hot tears of fury stung the hedgehog with the sky blue fur. 

“You’re leaving?” a deep voice spoke from the front door, “Oh. A shame. I was hoping to have a word before you left.”

Silhouetted in the doorway, an ominous black shape, stood a man. A skinny, grotesque sort of man, with sharp eyes, a sharp nose, sharp fingers and a sharp tongue. He had not a single hair upon his head and yet he sported a thick, orangey brown goatee.   
  
Jules took one look at him and felt his quills sharpen.

”Get out of my house!” he screeched, instinctively moving to block the staircase as his eyes flashed with green fire, “Crawl back to the hell-hole you were spewed from and stay there!”

The man, dressed in a long coat, smiled sickly.

”Such eloquent words,” he chuckled, “I say that sarcastically, of course; whoever heard of an eloquent animal?”

Jules glared.

The man’s smile dropped slightly but his gaze bored into the blue hedgehog with hated and evil.   
  


“How’s the family?” he asked slowly and deliberately. He could see it now - while Julius Hedgehog spoke and acted like someone with guts, someone with the blood of knights in his veins, when it came to the safety of his family, he was as yellow as a plump hen.   
  


“Get out,” Jules repeated, balling his fists and beginning to shake.   
  


The man raised his bushy eyebrows and narrowed his gaze. His soulless, black gaze.   
  


“Now I think we both know that’s not going to happen,” he said, holding his hands behind him and tilting his head to one size like some hungry reptile, “I haven’t spent these last few years tracking you down to merely pop my head round the door and ask how you were doing. Although, while I’m here I’ll ask again, how ARE you all doing? He must be getting quite big now, am I right? Let’s see... 5 years old? 6?”

  
”Julius?” Aleena appeared down the stairs, freezing in horror at the sight before her.  
  


”Aleena, good afternoon,” their unwelcome guest greeted politely, “My word, still as lovely as ever, aren’t you? That’s coming from someone who is a very poor judge of hedgehog beauty.”

But Aleena knew this man was not here for pleasantries.

”Please,” she wept, her knees nearly failing her, “...Please don’t.”

Unfortunately, the man had very little compassion in his heart.

”Shall we make this brief?” he grinned at Jules, “The house is surrounded and after the merry chase you’ve lead us on, I am in no mood for games or compromises.” He turned his cruel gaze back to Aleena. “If his things are packed already, then just send him down and we’ll leave in peace. Nobody has to die today.”

That was when they all heard the growl emanating from Jules’ throat.

”You’ll be dead once I get my hands on your throat, Robotnik.”

Ira Robotnik, the younger brother to the greatly feared Ivo Robotnik, looked nerved for only a moment before masking it with amusement as he glanced up at the staircase.   
  


“Now, Julius,” he chastised, “not in front of children.”

Ice coursed through Jules and Aleena as they immediately looked up to the landing. Sonia was there, white with fear, a little toothbrush clasped in her paws.

”Sonia! Inside the nursery!” Aleena cried, her startled voice causing the young hoglet to bolt. The slam of a door was heard shortly after as Ira smiled on.

”Last time I saw your daughter, she was smaller than my hand,” he mused.   
  


“Don’t you dare talk about my daughter!” Jules warmed, baring his teeth and hunching his shoulders so that his spines bristled.

”Of course. We’re getting off topic. We were talking about your son,” Ira Robotnik nodded, “Aleena, your highness, would you call for him?”

”You’re not taking him!” Jules roared, stepping forward, torn between spiking the intruder to death or protecting his family.

”Am I not?” Ira closed his eyes and smiled to himself.

As though in reply, there came a series of screams from upstairs and three hoglets came scurrying down to cling to their mother who sheltered them with her body as two armed thugs drifted into view on the landing. Baring her full back of spines to the intruders, Aleena cuddled her array to her tummy, breathing heavily while Jules sprang up the first two steps to shield them on the other side.   
  


Ira’s sinister eyes gleamed hungrily as he came slowly forward, peering round Jules to study the three hoglets that were trying to hide from the frightening men.

Sonia was the first of the triplets to be born, the same colouring as her beautiful mother.   
  


Then it had been Manic, vibrant green like his paternal grandmother.

Then the last hoglet to be born of the litter...

”There he is!” Ira smiled, circling round like a vulture, “Now just stay still... Let Uncle Robotnik get a good look at you...”

Sonic was the one he was after, the hoglet with the electric blue fur. He was the special one.

He MAY have turned out the same colour as his father had a certain accident not happened in the womb...

”No, you stay away!” Jules shouted, a hand reaching round to grab his blue son, “You hear me?”

”Such a handsome boy,” Ira admired, ignoring Jules. His eyes lowered and an evil smile crossed his face, “And those legs...”

At that, Jules finally snapped. He leapt at the madman, teeth bared, scratching and kicking for all he was worth.

”Sonic, run! Kids, all of you! Run!” he cried over his shoulder, “Get out of here! Don’t look back!”

Aleena pushed the three of them as she turned and started pummelling the two thugs at the top of the stairs.

Ignited by fear, the triplets hurried down and made a break for the front door. As Sonia and Manic disappeared outside, Sonic paused, turning to see what was becoming of his parents.

”Just run, Sonic!” Jules shouted as he was thrown to the floor by the soldiers who had come to Ira’s aid, “Never stop running!”

And so Sonic ran. With an ear-throbbing bang, the little blue hedgehog was gone, vanishing into the forest, calling desperately for his siblings with tears streaming down his face.

But he wasn’t going to be seeing his siblings again.   
  


They were chased after by the team waiting for them outside and carted straight back home by the scruffs of their necks to their badly beaten parents where they would be ‘dealt with’.

Jules was broken and bleeding. He lay on his side panting and grasping the carpet with torn gloves as Aleena, equally as battered, made a point of cradling her remaining hoglets, praying that her third had gained enough distance.

”Well?” Ira, nursing a wound to the temple, demanded as a muscular bear in leather came in.   
  


“S’rry, boss,” it grunted to him, “Lil’ hog long gone.”

Ira Robotnik was seething. His were pools of fire when he glared down at Sonic’s father on the floor.

”You’ve only delayed things, Julius,” he growled, “We’ll get your son one day. I can promise you that.”

Jules was losing consciousness and was also losing the battle against the gunshot wound he’d received in the stomach. His head ached and he could feel his lungs rattling as he lay on the blood-stained carpet.

”And you’ll die in just the way you deserve,” he croaked, holding Ira’s glare. “You and that brother of yours. _“I_ can promise you THAT!”

”You’re not in any condition to be promising anything.”

”Tell him...” Jules breathed, “...Tell Dr Ivo Robotnik... Tell him that my son will never be his. He’ll grow to be... a powerful being... But not a weapon...”

Ira crouched down closer to the hedgehog’s face.

”Do you really think you should be wasting your last breaths, hedgehog?” he asked quietly. He could see the light fading from Jules’ eyes.

”Only to tell you,” Jules now spoke in sighs, his eyelids closing, “that you won’t have Sonic. He’s a child born of Chaos. He’s the embodiment of the wind. And... and nothing... can catch... the wind...”

The hedgehog then gave a shuddered breath and went still, his life ebbed clean away.   
  


Aleena wept into her children’s fur, now foreseeing that they were all doomed.

Ira sneered down at the dead hedgehog.   
  


“We shall see,” he murmured and then stood up, casting one look around the house which was now teeming with his men, some searching the place and some standing over the hedgehog family with their guns pointed.

Straightening his coat, Ira gave the last three hedgehogs a remorseless scoff.   
  


“Shoot them.”

* * *

The sun was setting and still Sonic ran.   
  


He couldn’t see where he was going for the tears in his eyes blinded him.

He eventually came to a stop when he collided with a tree and sank to the ground, the only pain being the pain of loneliness. He had called and called for his brother and sister. Over and over he had shouted their names, hoping that his litter mates were out there, that they would hear him and come for him.

But they didn’t and, deep in his heart, Sonic knew they never would.

* * *

“Sir? You want us to send out a search party?” one thug asked, cautiously approaching Ira Robotnik.   
  


Ira was silent for a moment, staring out at the forest with an unreadable expression.   
  


“No,” he mumbled, “We’re returning to my brother. He needs to know about this.”

”But... but Sir,” the man continued, “What if we never find him?”

Ira let out a sinister laugh.

”As though one little hoglet can look after himself out there,” he chortled, “He can run as fast as he likes but he can’t run forever. He’ll find a village or something. He’ll let his guard down. Then we’ll get him.”

  
Something caught Ira’s eye down on the ground and he stooped to retrieve it, revealing a small, brilliant blue quill between his fingers. He smiled.   
  


“The world feared power once... It’s time they learnt to fear it again. We’ll show them what true fear is, won’t we?”

* * *

**Writer’s Note -**

**Welcome to Chaos Born. This story was originally posted on Fanfiction.net in 2017 where it can still be found, completed and credited. Thanks to the support it received, I have begun to re-upload the story to both the AO3 and Wattpad sites for those who prefer.**

**Just so it is clear: although this story features implied pairings, ‘romance’ is NOT the genre of this story and is not the main focus. Chaos Born originated as a character study and will remain as such.**

**\- Duma**


	2. 20 Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time passes. Events become memories. Memories can be forgotten....
> 
> Destroying robots alongside friends? Ah, now that is something no 25 year old can grow out of.

It was a wonder that Eggman didn't just give up building robots and venture into the industry of fireworks, considering so many of his metallic creations seemed to explode like the flaming things.

Then again, fireworks weren't tradtionally caused by the impact of a high speed hedgehog. Not usually.

Most of the robots were scrapped entirely, littering the valley in metal shards and cogs and wheels - an ugly sight, in Sonic's opinion, as he tore open a decapitated bee-bomber and releashed the terrified bird inside.

Nearby, Tails was nimbly dodging a few shots from a very optimistic robot, though considering it only consisted of a torso, half a head and only one arm, the term 'robot' could only be used half-heartedly and it hardly concerned the young two-tailed fox, brandishing his EMP gun.

Another robot went off with a bang on the other side of the gorge where Knuckles was pummelling holes into Eggman's drones, a somewhat disturbing grin on his face.

"What do you say, Knuckles?" Sonic called across the chasm, "Three badniks left. One for each of us?"

The echidna kicked the head of his last victim over the edge and watched it roll for a second before looking up and visibly running his tongue over his front teeth. 

"Can't promise anything," he called back, brandishing his lethal knuckled fist.

Tails aimed his EMP and fired, sending the remains of the robot in front of him into spasms. 

"Keep up, old men," he cheekily called over his shoulder, wagging his namesakes proudly.

"Any more of that lip," Sonic warned, having spinballed a distracted badnik, "And you can consider your backside grounded."

"Grounded?" Tails laughed, watching the Blue Blur, "Please! You haven't had the canines to ground me in seven years!"

"Nah, 'cause here I was thinking you were a good boy."

The levity was short-lived when the robot that Knuckles had been close to destroying suddenly tried to retreat, coined onto the fact that its allies were all in bits down in the valley. On it's way, however, it had chanced to gain one final victory.

The ground around the edge of the gorge where Tails was stood was weak and dry and unable to withstand the deluge of missiles and laser fire that then rained down upon it. As a result, the rocks gave way and Tails went with it, trapped underneath the debris with no room to use his tails to save himself.

"TAILS!" Sonic cried, leaping off the edge without a second thought, diving headlong into the mass of falling rock and using the boulders to spring from one obstacle to another.

Catching sight of his best friend in amongst the rubble, the hedgehog kicked out a foot and used the valley wall as leverage to propell himself forward, snatching the fox in mid-air and protectively curling around him to shield him from injury. Bracing himself for a lot of pain, Sonic's body tightened. But instead of experiencing the impact from the ground, both Sonic and Tails went careening off as Knuckles leapt through and caught them, pinning them to the wall of the canyon as he dug in a fist to stop them from sliding down too far. They huddled together tightly as the rocks cascaded down, a few smaller ones striking the hedgehog and the echidna, both of whom were shielding Tails beneath them.

After a few moments, the rockfall stopped. Coughing and shaking the dust from his dreadlocks, Knuckles was the first to lift a weary head, his right forearm trembling from the effort of keeping them against the wall. He slowly loosened his hold so that the three of them started to descend gently down into the graveyard of robot remains.

As soon as his feet hit solid ground, Sonic wearily blinked his eyes, worried that he could only see red. Then he worked out it was because his face was pressed into Knuckles' chest.

"Everyone okay?" the echidna asked, gingerly removing his raw fist from the deep groove he had now carved in the side of the cliff.

"Been better," Sonic admitted, rolling his bruised shoulders, "What about you Tails?"

The young fox had attached itself around Sonic and wasn't in any way inclined to let go. He looked up sheepishly at his two best friends.

"I'm fine. Thanks to you guys," he mumbled, big blue eyes looking downcast, "I'm really sorry. I should have..."

"None of that, buddy," Sonic interrupted, standing up straight and letting Tails find his footing, "Wasn't your fault and you would have done the same, let's face it."

"What?"

"You know, jump off a cliff to rescue me. I mean... Well, maybe you wouldn't. I don't know..."

He broke off as Tails laughed which was Sonic's full intention.

"If it was anyone's fault, it's mine," Knuckles suddenly said, rubbing his hand, "That was my robot, after all. But if it makes you feel better, it's gone now."

"Oh, so you took care of the robot before you thought about trying to help us out?" Sonic cried in mock offense.

"All happened in one fluid motion, actually. It was very elegently done, if I do say so myself. Anyway, you're a hard-headed hog, I'm sure you would have been able to look after Tails and only walk away with a fractured rib or so. I wasn't worried."

"Sometimes I forget just how good of a friend you really are, Knux. We really don't deserve you, do we?"

"Does anyone?"

* * *

The autumn afternoon sun was streaking through the window as Amy cuddled down on her sofa, swaddled in a blanket in front of the crackling fireplace, lost in a romantic novel whilst balancing a mug of tea in one hand and a bowl of popcorn on her stomach. Never had she felt so completely at ease and in total bliss.

Okay so maybe a hot bath and an evening with Sonic MAY have topped it but it was good enough.

Unfortunately, she had only just lifted the mug to her lips when she heard a series of knocks at her front door. Frowning a little, Amy let out an irritated sigh and set down her bowl, mug and book on the coffee table, throwing her blanket over the back of the sofa and getting to her feet. As she walked down the hallway, she hurriedly ruffled her quills back into place and then opened the door, leaping back in surprise as three of her friends almost fell in on top of her.

First was Tails, clinging to Sonic with one arm whilst the other supported his own back.

Sonic was hunched over and had to push against the doorframe.

Knuckles was just behind them, cradling his right hand and shuffling in.

All three looked as though they'd had a night on the town and were now incredibly plastered, just trying to find the nearest refuge where they could throw up and collapse on a familiar carpet. They each gave a bewildered Amy a guilty smile as they went, limping and staggering, down her hallway in the direction of her front room where she had been just a moment before.

"Do I want to know?" she asked, pushing the door shut and mentally preparing herself for some wild story.

"Knowing you," Knuckles grunted as he went by, "Probably."

Rolling her eyes, the pink hedgehog female went to the kitchen and stuck the kettle on, fishing out painkillers from her medicine cabinet and pouring three glasses of water.

In the front room, Knuckles had sunk into an armchair and Tails and Sonic were splayed out on her sofa, the former trying to press against one square cushion and the latter faceplanting the other.

"Sonic, you're bleeding!" Amy cried, dumping the water and painkiller down on the coffee table beside the popcorn and moving to look at the blue hedgehog's injured shoulder.

Sonic only gave a muffled moan and said 'mmmph'.

"What happened?" Amy demanded.

"Robots. Laser. Rockslide," answered Knuckles, "I got a sore paw and headache the size of Sonic's ego."

"Pulled a muscle in my back," answered Tails, "Twisted my ankle too."

"Mr Hero over there," Knuckles then added, "took a sharp rock to the shoulder and probably has bruised lungs from when I grabbed him in mid-air."

Amy merely sighed, far too used to the boys' adventuring mishaps to get riled up. She directed Tails and Knuckles to the water and painkiller whilst she returned to her cabinet and retrieved the first aid kit and made some coffee, returning to find two out of three friends nicely dosed. Sonic didn't seem to be especially motivated to move from his comatose position and he only flinched a couple of times as Amy cleaned and plastered his cut shoulder. The temptation of a hot drink finally stirred him to sit up and accept the painkiller, drinking it down with his decaf coffee (no-one was stupid enough to give hyperactive Sonic the strong stuff).

"Thanks Ames," Sonic murmured, leaning back on the sofa with a sigh.

Moments later, Knuckles' fist was cleaned and dressed, Tails had a heat pack on his back and all three were looking ready to doze off. Smiling to herself, Amy packed away the first-aid kit and briefly contemplated on whether she would be permitted to allow herself to have a teeny small alcaholic drink. Deciding against it, even though she felt overdue for one, the young lady next trudged along to the airing cupboard, pulling out three quilts and three pillows.

"Here," she said, throwing them at the boys, "Bunk at my place tonight and I'll let you go tomorrow if I think you're up for it."

"Yes Mother," the three of them chorused together.


	3. Team Dynamics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starting as a team, you eventually become a family and everyone’s roles are different but no less important. 
> 
> The best part is that the nature of the relationships between members can alter and grow in various ways. 
> 
> Enjoy these moments. Because a little peace and a little security doesn’t last long around here...

Eggman hadn't been heard from in quite a while; he had jumped off the radar six months ago without so much as a word or a threat. That was nothing new - the villain had done this sort of thing before.

In that time, Sonic and his friends had been dealing with renegade robots that had come online without a master to give them orders, only acting on their base programming which told them to destroy anything that was hedgehog blue and anything that was connected _to_ hedgehog blue. 

The last of them had now been dealt with, prompting the Mobius Planet to heave a sigh of relief for the time being.

There were those, on the other hand, who knew better than to assume that they were free to live their lives without disturbance.

The Sonic Allies, the large group of freedom fighters that had each had a part in defending the world against enemies such as Eggman (and which consisted of individuals who were none too keen to be referred to as members of 'Team Sonic'), had experience of the mad scientist and knew him better than most. The likelihood that he would be defeated quietly was near to impossible so when Sonic awoke the next morning on Amy's sofa, curled up with a fox using him for a pillow, he knew it was the first day of waiting to see what Eggman would do next.

And when.

Always the last to fall asleep and always the first to wake, Sonic lay there in silence, not daring to disturb the fox that rested on him, pondering on where they were in life. A brief review, of sorts. He briefly thought back to past choices, musing on how different the present might be had he made other decisions regarding friends, enemies, lifestyles...

Tails gave a content sigh in his sleep, one of his tails re-wrapping itself around himself and nuzzling further into the downy fur of Sonic's stomach.

The hedgehog smiled, satisfied that, even if he had to regret everything else, he had made at least one good decision in taking in that tiny abandoned fox cub well over a decade ago.

The lump of red fur from the armchair gave a small snore as he twisted over and cuddled under the corner of his quilt.

Knuckles was another good decision, as far as Sonic was concerned. After their first encounter, the sensible thing may have been to leave the echidna to his own devices, guarding the Master Emerald as his ancestors had done in the days of old, drawing Eggman's attention elsewhere... 

While he had his rare moments, Sonic wasn't often described as 'sensible'.

He had turned a blind eye to Knuckles' position, his circumstances and his invisible chain that bound him to his duty. All he saw was a lonely rock that needed the opportunity to freely leave the island and explore the world every so once in a while. So, rather than forget about the echidna, Sonic had tried making him into an ally, a permenant friend. It had taken time but, finally, Knuckles had accepted the hand of friendship, welcoming Sonic and Tails as his own brothers. His duty was still to the Master Emerald, of course, but now there was more help, more oppurtunity to 'get out there' as Sonic had told him and as a result, Knuckles had developed a love for treasure hunting.

They made quite the team: Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. Each had a power that perfectly balanced one another out.

Sonic was the fastest, Knuckles, the strongest, and Tails, the smartest.

Sonic was the risk-taker, the optimist, the spear-head leader. Knuckles was the muscle, the wrecking ball, the loyal meat shield. Tails was the flyer, the gadget-guy, the hacker with a plan.

"Good morning," whispered a soft voice.

Amy had padded down the stairs in her slippers, silently made breakfast and had prepared drinks. She deposited a cup of tea down in front of Sonic and, with a smile, had taken the other free armchair.

Sonic thanked her and watched her cuddle into chair cushion.

Rounding everything off was Amy Rose, the fourth and final set member of Sonic's intimate group of friends. She had been the one that Sonic had been considering the most, trying to work out if the decision had been good or bad. After all, in her younger years, Amy had been... well... obsessive. She had set her heart on Sonic the Hedgehog and nothing, absolutely nothing, had ever been able to deter her away from him.

She was as stubborn as Knuckles, as devoted as Tails and, while not exactly on par with Sonic, was as quick and agile as every other hedgehog.

More than that, she had grown to fit every role that the three of them could ask for - she was the mother and the sister and..

Sonic was smiling.

They had met when he was fifteen and she was twelve - a whole ten years ago. Her love for him, incredibly, had not changed in that time.

Now her love was returned; she and Sonic had begun dating two years ago.

Of course, it could have been that, during her teenage years, Amy had come to realise that she may have been a tad smothering and so she had eased off, resigned to the fact that if Sonic liked her, he'd let her know when he was good and ready.

He had chosen to tell her whilst in the clutches of Metal Sonic, a metallic claw clamped around his throat and another metallic claw clamped around Amy's arm, in a free-fall descent towards an erupting volcano.

Sonic was always the romantic type.

"So now Eggman's loose robots are all taken care of," Amy had murmured quietly, sipping her own drink, wrapped in her fluffy soft pink night robe, "there's nothing else to do but wait?"

"Something like that," Sonic nodded, gently placing his gloved hand on Tails' chest and softly stroking the 18 year old's fur.

Although practically an adult, Tails was still young at heart and secretly enjoyed a little loving attention from his older brother/best friend although, had he been awake, he may have given the hedgehog a disapproving glance. He drew the line at giving Public Displays of Affection in front of the others - more specifically, those outside the ‘Classic’ Four, as the rest of the Sonic Allies sometimes nicknamed them behind their backs.

"How's your shoulder?" Amy then asked, still keeping her voice low.

"It's fine," Sonic replied, "Between you and Chaos energy, I'm fighting fit again."

"And the lungs?"

"Breathing."

Amy nodded, satisfied. It took a lot to take down Sonic. He, Shadow and Knuckles were the most resilient creatures she had ever known - they could take a beating, an explosion, a bullet storm and a natural disaster all in one hit and then shake it off afterwards, albeit after a moment to lie down and stop their heads from spinning first. Silver could probably take it all too but it was difficult to tell with him seeing as he was from the future and had special adaptations.

It was because of Chaos energy, that much she knew.

Chaos acted as a power source and a healing factor for those dubbed as 'Chaos Beings' - those with abnoramlly high levels of Chaos running through their systems.

Of course, Chaos Energy, the background radiation of Mobius, acted differently with different people. Tails, for example, was the definition of a child prodigy; a classified genius even when young enough to be sucking milk bottles and wearing padded overalls. Who knew if the powers of Chaos were involved with that! Blaze had always said that she wasn't a 'Chaos Being' per se, being from another dimension, and instead had gained her powers through the use of the Sol Emeralds, back home (which made her a Chaos Being in this dimension, whatever she said).

In all honesty, Amy didn't really care. She was only grateful that Sonic could harness the powers of Chaos for his heroic work.

It was strange, she mused, staring at him, how he seemed to be more at ease with Chaos Energy than even that of Shadow sometimes, who had been created to use it at will. When she had asked Sonic, he had merely shrugged and simply put it down to beginner's luck, or natural talent. That had been accompanied by a cocky smirk.

"What are you laughing at?" Sonic asked, breaking Amy from her thoughts.

"I'm not laughing, I'm smiling," she replied, clearing her head.

"Okay, what are you smiling at?"

"I'm smiling at you."

"Why?"

Amy took another gulp of tea. 

"Because," she answered, "you and Tails are looking very cute this morning."

* * *

With Team Sonic breakfasted and washed, it was time to face reality.

"I'd best be getting back home," Knuckles announced, glancing out the window, "Can't be away too long; I'll get into trouble."

"Take care, Knux," Sonic called after him as he strode through the door, "And, you know, thanks again." Knuckles just smiled and went on his way.

"We'd better be off too," Tails said, "I've got to get global surveilence tech up and running for GUN. The moment Eggman reappears, they all want to know."

"Can't blame them," Amy shivvered, "I never want to see another Eggman robot again." She heard a chuckle behind her.

"Aw, Ames," said Sonic, "Where's the excitement without a few badniks to kick around?"

"We're not all adrenaline junkies like you," Amy retorted, pushing him towards the door.

Sonic pretended to look hurt.

"You're not?" Tails had already walked through the door but that was where Sonic stopped and turned, blocking the way by leaning on both doorframes. "How about a Date Night junkie? Are you one of those?"

Amy twitched an ear.

"What time were you thinking of finding out?" she asked slowly.

Sonic tilted his head on one side like a puppy.

"Maybe six? Dinner and a show, how about that?"

"You'll wear a jacket?"

"...Fine."

"Then it's a date."

* * *

The Master Emerald was right where Knuckles had left it, glittering beautifully on its shrine.  
It glowed brightly in greeting when Knuckles approached it and the echidna felt a wash of calm pass him over.

"Hope you've behaved," he murmured softly, in a fond way.

"Don't you worry, she's been good as gold," a voice answered him.

"I'm surprised to find it still here," Knuckles huffed, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrow as a shape appeared at his side.

"Now where would I go?" Rouge asked, planting her hands on her hips, "Where would I possibly hide it?"

"I can think of a few grungy caves," Knuckles replied, scrunching his nose and then turning his head towards the curvacious bat.

She was smirking straight back at him. Then she lifted one of his fists and kissed it.

"You could have called to say you weren't going to be home," she scolded playfully, wrapping her hand around Knuckles' thick arm, "Were you too busy in the company of some other woman?"

Though he was used to Rouge's teasing, Knuckles was annoyed that she still found ways of making him blush. 

"I was at Amy's..." he said and then wished he hadn't.

"An affair with _Amy_?" Rouge cackled, "My word, Sonic's going to have your hide, Knuckie dearest! I'll be widowed before the week is through!"

"No, Sonic was there too!"

"Oh I see. You're into THAT kind of relationship. Well, if you want I can call Shadow..."

"Rouge!" Knuckles cried in exasperation, "That's not what I meant and you know it!"

Giggling naughtily, Rouge gave the echidna another kiss on the muzzle.

"I know. I'm so mean to you, aren't I?" she sighed, wrapping her arms around him, "I missed you and your silly face, that's all. Angel Island is very lonely. Don't know how you managed to stand it for so long before you met me..."

"You?" Knuckles laughed, "You do know that my life doesn't revolve around you, don't you?"

Rouge pulled away and gave him a playful slap on the arm.

"Cheek," she grinned, sashaying down the steps with the intention of heading into their house underneath, "I let you put a ring on my finger, I let you call me your wife and that's the reward? Still second to the Master Emerald, am I? And after I looked after it while you were off smashing robots..."

Knuckles rubbed his arm with a smile. 

"I got _hurt_ you know," he called after her, following his fiery wife.

"You poor darling," Rouge called back sarcastically, "Best come inside and let me treat you, eh?"

...But Knuckles didn't respond to her seduction. He had stopped halfway down the shrine steps, a sudden feeling coming over him.

Turning back towards the top of the shrine, the Guardian frowned, hurrying back up as fast as he could.

"Knuckles?" Rouge asked uncertainly at the bottom.

Their spacious underground house had been built beneath the shrine, with two 'floors' and a front door and easy access to the top if there was a hurry to get there. Knuckles could feel the Master Emerald from below and Rouge liked the cave-like feel as well as being surrounded by treasures that she and her husband had collected over the years, taking it in turns to go hunting and guard the Master Emerald above.

Something was off, however, when Knuckles stepped cautiously towards it, sensing an uneasiness about his charge.

"Knuckles? Sweetie, what's wrong" Rouge asked, her playfulness gone as she hurried back up to the top.

"Not sure yet," Knuckles replied, "It was glad to see me before but now it's... Something's frightened it."

"Like what?"

Knuckles gently touched the Emerald and closed his eyes, letting out a sigh of discomfort.

"Something's going to happen. Sometime soon," he told Rouge, feeling for her hand and holding it to his chest while he still kept contact with the Master Emerald.

Rouge could remember the first time Knuckles had done that, allowing her to feel what he was feeling from the mighty jewel.

She could sense a trepidation, a feeling of unsafety, an approaching storm that had not yet hit...

"Is it Eggman?" she asked quietly but Knuckles shook his head.

"I don't know," he replied, "Not even the Master Emerald knows. Eggman's not dead so it _could_ be him. But..." Knuckles furrowed his brow and then realised that he was sounding like a doom merchant, "...but it could easily be just a literal bad storm on the way. There could be a number of reasons as to why the Master Emerald gets uppity."

Rouge wrapped her wings around her front and shivvered. 

"Come inside," she murmured, "I'm working tomorrow and I want to spend some time with my husband."

Knuckles rubbed his namesakes and relented as the Master Emerald's worry seemed to ebb.

The echidna and bat took one another's hands and headed back towards the house, not dismissing the warning but shelving it away for the time being.

* * *

Even after all these years, Sonic still had no permanent place of residence. He had an empty shack on the beach but, besides that, he lived his life either outside under the stars or on the sofas of either Tails and Amy. If anyone wanted to contact him, they usually contacted Tails.

They took the Tornado, the bi-plane that used to be Sonic's but had been handed over to Tails long ago, and flew to the Mystic Ruins where Tails kept his home and workshop. Parking the plane in its hanger alongside other vehicles and craft, the two best friends went, laughing and joking, along the path to Tails' house.

The door opened and there stood another fox, a vixen, with ice blue eyes and fur that was slightly lighter than Tails'. Her long tail swished from side to side in greeting.

"Hi Tails! Hi Sonic!" she smiled, opening the door wide for them.

"Hi Zooey! How is everything?" Tails asked as Sonic passed him the hallway with a smirk and went about raiding the fridge.

"Everything is just fine," Zooey, Tails' girlfriend, replied and then turned towards the back door which lead out in the garden. She stood on the threshold and cupped her hands. "Rosemary!" she called, "Rosemary! Your daddy's home!"

From the orchard came the pitter patter of delicate feet and in through the door hurried a young 2 year old Seedrian girl with eyes as blue as Tails'. Her petal hair was pale green, curling beneath her face with one single rosebud over the right side of her head, but her leafy dress was pale yellow and white. She leapt into Tails' arms with a squeal, cuddling into her father's soft yellow fur in delight.

When Cosmo, her mother, had died, she had left behind a single seed for Tails, whom she had loved.

For many years, the seed had grown in its pot, like an ordinary plant but when its 'father' met Zooey and fell in love again, the seed had grown into a small baby, looking just like Cosmo apart from the yellow colouring which had (presumably) come from her mother's love for her father.

She had been named Rosemary Foxglove Prower.

It had been quite a shock for Tails to suddenly be thrust into fatherhood but Zooey had been on the scene to act as a stand-in mother. She and Rosemary were very close and had already practically adopted one another.

Then, of course, there was good old Uncle Sonic - Uncle Sonic who had retrieved her as a seed after her mother's demise.

Sonic doted on his adopted niece and vowed that he would do everything in his power to keep her safe. He was glomped by her moments later when he had finally found the leftover chili dogs that Tails always knew to keep in stock.

"Watch the spines, gumdrop," he warned, spinning her round to his front, "See? Uncle Sonic is softer on this side."

Rosemary giggled sweetly and rubbed the side of her face against Sonic's peach fur.

Tails on the other hand headed to his office which, on reflection, was more like a smaller lab with more bookshelves and fewer computers. He sent off a few emails to the GUN commander and went about uploading the Global Tracking File to their computer via his own.

Now, if Eggman was going to show up at any time, GUN would know about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer’s Note - The story is predominantly set in the Game Canon Universe. Characters such as Cosmo and Zooey are not the main focus of the story and are only included to help support the plot.
> 
> As previously mentioned, this story was written and uploaded to Fanfiction.net way back in 2017, before the IDW comics were released, can you believe? The entire complete story can be found there (again under my pen name of DaydreamingDuma) for those who are too impatient for the chapters to be updated. I will say, however, that the original story may contain spelling and grammatical errors that have yet to be corrected. The story found here is the revised and improved version.


	4. I See a Bad Moon Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr Eggman has been suffering over the years and there’s only so long he can go before snapping... and it doesn’t help that the G.U.N. is slowly getting closer to finding him.

Far out to sea were a collection of small crops of land simply known as the Abandoned Isles. Cut off from the rest of the planet, the islands were nothing but wilderness where only a few remaining ruined houses still stood, empty and lifeless, nothing more than mere shells. Most of the islands had experienced flooding, what with slowly rising sea levels, and nearly all of Christmas Isle was underwater, claimed by the ocean.

Hidden in the rocky mountain of Christmas Isle, however, still remained one last relic; a decrepid, desolate robot factory, mostly submerged underground. It was the only place that the G.U.N. did not know about so Eggman felt secure that he would not be found. Many of his old robots were stored here too - old ideas, incomplete projects and scrapped, defective minions.

He had spent most of his months of hiding wallowing in his own madness, laughing at nothing, throwing things around and shouting to the ceiling. That was when he settled down and got on with tinkering in his laboratories, fixing his old machines and unearthing archived data and plans.

On one morning Eggman had awoken in a foul mood, no desire to tinker or build or plot any form of revenge.

He was getting old. He couldn't count how many years he had spent throwing time and resources into the capture of one hedgehog.

One infuriating, blue, supersonic hedgehog.

His makeshift bed creaked in protest as the rotunned scientist twisted this way and that, attempting to get comfortable and pass back into sleep. But sleep would not come due to his colourful imagination conjuring up all manners of torture to the one he hated so much. He wasn't even sure why it was Sonic in particular that pushed his buttons so much...

Actually, he had thought with a smile, that's a lie.

Year after year, Eggman had devised plot after vicious plot to conquer the planet and reform it to his heart's desire and, again, year after year, Sonic had always put himself in the way and pulled the rug out from under him.

That's why he hated him so much.

The rest of the Sonic Allies were also hated enemies but, strangely, he felt as though they were easily explained; there was a reason as to why they were involved in the battle to stop him - it was because of Sonic.

"Good morning Sir," chipped Orbot, hesitantly entering the room with a tray of breakfast. Ever the shrewd, intelligent type, Orbot had learnt that it was best just to bid his master a good morning, leave his breakfast and then leave. This time he was stopped.

"Orbot," Eggman growled. The red orb-shaped robot nervously looked roung, his panic levels rising.

"Yes, Sir?" Had robots been able to gulp, he would have done so.

"Where's Cubot?" Eggman asked. It wasn't a question that Orbot expected, that was for certain.

"Cubot?" he echoed, as though never having heard that name before, "I... Well, I don't know, Sir. He's probably still performing his morning duties. Dusting and hoovering and washing..."

"Get him and meet me at the Vault." Eggman started to smile. "I want to show you both something."

* * *

The Vault was the vast underground system where unneeded items and gizmos were kept - and it was also the final resting place of offline robots that were either waiting for the smelting pit or merely kept as momentoes. Orbot and Cubot, Eggman's current robot lackeys, following in their Master's wake like petrified chickens being taken to a slaughter house, had never set servoe in such a place as this and they floated around in dreaded awe, terrified of the old structure and equally respectful.

Previous robotic henchmen had been laid to rest right here; to Orbot and Cubot, this was no factory - it was a graveyard. A tomb. They now saw, with their own optics, the offlined remains of their predecessors such as Decoe, Bocoe and Bokuun.

"Served me as well as they could," Eggman had commented, giving them the 'guided tour' of the deep bowels of the building, "But every robot has their time. Systems don't continue forever, you know. It's a wonder yours are still going."

Orbot and Cubot didn't trust themselves to speak for they were too frightened. Each robot hung in glass capsules, strung up with wires and tubes, completely void of life.

"And look," Eggman's echoing voice came, further down the aisle, "Now these are going even further back. This is Scratch, Grounder and Coconuts. The most idiotic robots known to existence. Their creation was a mistake but rescources were scarce back then and I had to make do with what I had." Eggman's face darkened. "Even if they were completely incompetent and had no idea how to get a hold of that accursed hedgehog."

Orbot and Cubot merely shook in their metal shells, holding on to one another for comfort.

"Oh look!" Eggman suddenly crooned, making them jump, "See here? This was my little Cluck. Such a good companion!" He was stroking the glass of a capsule containing a small robot chicken with a serated metal beak and a wicked glare on its face. "I miss him," he sighed.

"That brat of mine hated him," a new voice echoed throughout the archives. Orbot and Cubot shrieked and flew behind Eggman, their metal clacking together loudly.

Eggman wasn't entirely nervous yet but he was alarmed to hear of an uninvited visitor to his private factory.

"Who's there?" he demanded, shouting into the dusty darkness, "Show yourself."

There was a moment of pause.

"After all this time," the voice chuckled, "and your moustache is still that luxuriant?"

Then, all at once, Eggman recognised the voice.

"...That's impossible," he breathed, a smile forming on his face. Orbot and Cubot exchanged clueless faces.

"You were the one that said that nothing was impossible," the voice went on. Then, moving out of the gloom stepped a figure, a tall, slender figure with a gastly palour and a stick-like body, sporting an untidy orange-brown goatee. He grinned at Eggman. "Hello Ivo," he greeted.

Orbot and Cubot had no idea who this man was.

"Ira," Eggman smiled, his eyes glittering behind his spectacles, "You're alive."

"And kicking."

Eggman laughed and stepped forward.

"You crafty beanpole!" he chortled, hugging and thumping him on the shoulder, "Dingbots 1 and 2, this is Ira Robotnik, my little brother. Show respect and say hello!"

Ira Robotnik was, _supposedly_, the father of Snively - Eggman's disowned nephew, though that was never proven. Immediately, Orbot and Cubot dropped to the ground while Ira looked at them in amusement. Then deciding to ignore them, he turned his sole attention to Eggman.

"So how have you been, brother of mine?" he asked cordially, "It's been hard to keep a track of time and progress from the inside of an asylum. Oh, Uncle sends his regards, by the way. He's dead now but I promised to pass them on when I escaped."

"How _did_ you escape?" asked Eggman, walking with his brother back towards his main living quarters as Orbot and Cubot slowly and cautiously followed.

Ira gave a grimace. 

"Not thanks to you, that's for sure," he muttered dryly.

Eggman halted and fixed his brother with a firm yet slightly uncomfortable stare. 

"There was no way I could break you out of the Asylum, Ira," he muttered back, "I tried when they took mother and I almost got locked up myself."

"Yes," Ira mused, continuing on, "they've been after you. The one Robotnik that slipped the net. Mind, you always were the clever one. Brains and a moustache? You can see why I was always jealous."

"Jealous of me?" Eggman scoffed, "You? Mother's pet?"

Ira lifted his head and cackled. It was incredible how much like Eggman he sounded.

"Hahaha! Not so much of Mother's Pet anymore. Don't think she even recognises me now. One foot in the grave, I swear - senile old cowbag." He wiped his eye and shook his head with a giggle.

Of course, this was the only facilty of Eggman's that he knew and he knew it well. He hardly needed an escort around a building he had once lived in himself. They reached the living quarters and settled down with drinks in the comfy chairs, staring at one another over their mugs with a look of both respect and distrust.

"Well," Eggman said, breaking the momentary silence, "I wish there were an Eggman Empire homecoming for you but, as you can see, that hasn't happened yet."

Ira didn't respond straight away. He simply gazed into his drink, watching it swill round and round and round, allowing a cruel, evil smirk to pull at his lips.

"...He's still evading you, is he?"

Eggman's grip around his mug tightened.   
"Just like I evade the Asylum. That hedgehog is more of an eel than any fish I know." Orbot and Cubot observed the exchange in ever increasing levels of amazement.

_"He knows Sonic?_" Cubot beeped quietly, hurriedly being shooshed by his partner. Not that either of the Robotnik brothers took any notice.

"...How long has it been?" Ira asked, losing interest in his drink now.

"Since you last saw him? Twenty years," Eggman smiled and quite enjoyed Ira's sudden look of shock, "He's 25 now."

"No!" Ira gushed, like an old aunt, "He was only a scrap of a hoglet when I last saw him!"

"Strapping adult now. Looks just like his father. He still has the most powerful legs I've ever seen, though."

"And still just as blue?"

"I'd say he's even more blue. Almost outshines the Chaos Emerald."

"Fantastic." Ira drained his mug and set it on the table. "Well," he decided, "I dearly need to see him again."

"I agree. Unfortunately, he's grown rather erratic. And he has a little friendship group that's proved annoyingly disruptive."

"Friends?" Ira mused, his interest peaked once more.

"Royal pains, I call them," Eggman nodded, "He collects allies like they were postage stamps."

"How many?"

"Ooh, now that's a question. The last time I took a tally count... It was more than thirteen, anyway. One of them is a creation from Grandfather. You know, Gerald Robotnik?"

Ira wrinkled his nose, an appendage just as protrusive as his brother's. 

"Mother never spoke of him," he said, "Said he took cousin Maria and abandoned the family."

"Yes, he went off to create the Ultimate Lifeform," Eggman nodded, remembering the ARK and the events that lead up to it.

"Ah," Ira sighed knowingly, "Project Shadow, yes? Mother said he was always going on about trying to cure precious Maria, whoever she was."

Eggman stared into his empty mug. 

"They're both dead," he growled, recalling the video of his own grandfather's execution very vividly, "Not like they bothered to inform the rest of the family of that news. Shadow, on the other hand, the Ultimate Lifeform himself, is now allied with Sonic. Oh, and just hazard a guess as to what Shadow is?"

Ira drummed his fingers against the arm of his chair, taking a lungful of air at the same time. 

"...Don't tell me..." he purred, "...It's a hedgehog?"

* * *

Friendly chatter wasn't often a sound heard in the hallways and corridors of GUN's HQ; it tended to be the clicks and clacks of the agents' footfalls as they moved from room to room on some errand of some sort. They often walked with conviction, their minds set upon reaching a goal and lord pity the fool that attempted to hinder them in any way.

Yet they knew when to step aside when the forms of Team Dark materialised before them, coming along in their usual formation: Shadow and Rouge side by side with Omega standing behind, looming over both, his emotionless optics taking in everything.

Not that Team Dark often took the time to 'bond' with the other agents of GUN, human or otherwise. They kept themselves to themselves as a rule.

"My goodness, I feel awful." Rouge was always the first to initiate the conversation between the three of them, as per usual. "Stomach's been churning like a washing machine."

"Rough night?" Shadow was often the one to give a monotomous reply to Rouge's initial conversation starter, more out of politeness than any actual interest.

"Master Emerald was keeping Knuckles up," Rouge explained, arching her sore back, "By which I mean that he wriggles about in his sleep more. Had his giant fists in my face every other hour."

"And you love it," Shadow grunted.

"**Are you unwell?**" Omega then piped up, the one to only chip in every so often, "**Do you require a health scan? **_**Scanning**_**... Blood pressure reads at...**"

"Omega," Rouge interrupted with a patient smile, "You have to learn not to scan ladies like that without permission." She and Shadow were both extremely fond of their large, robotic friend with his dopey optics and his innocent concept of biological life sometimes (that facade changed when he was battling Eggman robots!). Omega also seemed to be the first robot they had encountered that could mimic facial expressions by tilting his optics.

He gave an apologetic _whirr_. 

"**Apologies Rouge. I was only attempting to assist. Let me know if one requires an immediate connection call to a place of repair. I have pick-up trucks on 'speed dial'."**

"We call them hospitals and ambulances, Omega."

Omega gave a click as he looked around him inconspicuously.

**"...Do I require permission to scan Ultimate Lifeforms without consent?**"

"Knock yourself out, sweetheart," Rouge smiled.

**"I feel no need to perform self cognitive...**"

"It was an expression, honey."

Shadow, not one to enter into witty banter with his teammates, was the first one to reach the commander's door and give a knock.

"Enter," a gruff voice spoke from the other side. The three of them entered and stood along the wall, smartly facing the desk where a tall human officer was sat.

"Ah, Dark," he greeted, rising to his feet, "We have had reports from our private spies in the field that Eggman's area of operation could be near to being discovered. As you know, we've had all frequencies and satellites on monitor - we know that he is still somewhere on the planet. We believe we've narrowed down the search towards the South Coast."

"South Coast? You mean like South Island?" Rouge enquired, raising an eye, "Isn't that where Sonic and Eggman first butted heads?"

"It's our most probable location," the Commander nodded, "Humans are creatures of habit and sentimentality and, while we're reluctant to admit that Eggman is, indeed, of the human species, pyschologists have advised that we seek out areas where he and Sonic may have had... memories." He glanced at Shadow. "Have you been keeping an eye on Sonic?"

The black and red hedeghog turned his head away. "If you think I'm that hedgehog's keeper..."

"I'm not thinking that at all, Shadow," the Commander replied, "But I know that YOU know, just as well as the rest of your Ally group, that Eggman has a particular relationship with Sonic. If he's going to show up again..."

"Don't worry," Shadow sighed, "I'll be there to make sure 'Priority 1 Hedgehog' is in the know."

The Commander knotted his fingers and leant his elbows on the desk. 

"Yes," he murmured, "and to also ensure that the 'Priority 1 Hedgehog' isn't hog-_snatched_. Don't attempt to deny that you are not intrigued in your blue look-alike, Agent Shadow, for I am perfectly well aware that he is as perplexing to you as he is to me. GUN monitors both Eggman AND Sonic and, as agents of GUN..."

"We get it," Rouge interrupted, noticing Shadow's demeanor, "Just tell us where we're heading."

The Commander gave the bat a disapproving glance at her insubordinant tone but promptly pulled out a file from his desk drawer. 

"Get information on past battles between Sonic and Eggman during their early days," he ordered, "We're retracing the history between them to see if any further locations can be put on the search list. Also, we need you to head out to South Island. If Eggman hasn't a facility there then we clearly don't know a flying rat's backside about this guy."

"**Expression unknown,**" Omega chipped, "**Flying Rat - terminology, illogical. There is no data on flying rodents**." The Commander facepalmed. "_**Searching files**_**... Data suggests that you refer to the bat species. Permission to take offense on Agent Rouge's behalf**."

"Just go!" the Commander groaned, "And no, permssion not granted. Now, please, get going."

Team Dark went on their way down the corridor.

"**Do not tell,**" Omega told Rouge in as close to a whisper as a robot could manage, "**but I ignored the Commander and took offense**."

Rouge laughed.

"Thanks, Omega. You're a good friend."


	5. Digging for Dirt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Dark get to work although they appear to gain more questions than answers...

The steady stream of _bleep_ noises seemed to drift into background noise as Amy stood and waited for the food to be priced and packed, lost in a faraway daydream of her 'wild' youth and how her life had suddenly fallen into orbit around 'Centre of the Solar System', Sonic.

She liked astronomy, she had decided, but this was the first time she had envisioned she and her friends as planets.

Sonic was, without doubt, the centre, the burning sun that drew in everyone else. Already the Sonic Allies Group was a vast Solar System with Tails holding proud position as the 'Planet Closest To The Sun'. Amy was a close second, she had decided quite forcefully, as the "beautiful" Venus.

She supposed that made Knuckles Mobius or 'Earth' as the Other-Worlders called it. Well, that was Knuckles all over - the earthy, immovable rock that seemed to be quite content where he was, none too keen to be shifted from his spot.

But Amy was pleased to be Venus.

It had been a rollercoaster, her relationship with Sonic, though her introduction to the blue hero could have been much more romantic, in her opinion.

She gave a violent shake as sudden red optics flashed into her mind, the grinding scrapes of metal joints and the menacing, talon-like fingers... all dressed in blue... Metal Sonic had haunted Amy's nightmares for years since being abducted by him on that first day she had met Sonic.

But that was in the past. Metal hadn't been heard from in an age and Sonic was a cemented part of her life now, whatever that life would come to.

Amy paid for her food and bade farewell to the cashier, taking a bag in each hand and making her way home.

"Hi, honey!" a recognisable voice hailed her. Rouge appeared at her side, taking a bag. "Need a hand? This is a lot of stuff for just yourself."

"Actually I'm having a dinner party tomorrow evening," Amy replied, smiling at that bat, "Oh and thanks for the help." She had once despised Rouge and had treated her as a rival.

During the early days, Rouge had an insatiable desire to flirt with each and every handsome fella she clapped eyes on and Sonic hadn't been able to slip under her radar at all. Now that Rouge had settled with rugged Knuckles, Amy was more keen to make a friend of Rouge rather than an enemy.

"Shame," the curvy bat had sighed, "I was hoping to hear you and Big Blue were planning a steamy date together. Candlelight meal, slow jazz in the background, bearskin rug in front of the fireplace... Oh well, so much for juicy gossip."

Amy rolled her eyes. Rouge really hadn't changed a bit in that respect and her flirty nickname for Sonic had stuck ever since she had first come up with it several years ago. 

"Sonic _will _be there," the pink hedgehog had assured her friend, "but so will Tails and Zooey. And little Rosemary too. She's such a darling."

Rouge blinked.

"Quite," she hummed and then stretched her wings as the two women turned down a lane towards Amy's cottage. "Seems a lifetime ago," she then murmured, seemingly to herself.

"What does?" Amy asked.

"Cosmo," Rouge replied, for she had been thinking about Rosemary, the Seedrian's daughter, "That whole adventure out in space with the Meterex and what have you. Seems a lifetime ago."

"Yeah," Amy just nodded sadly.

"I'll bet Tails isn't one to think about... what happened," Rouge pressed on, gnawing her lip for the right words to use, "It was hard on all of us but for him..."

"I know."

"I mean, to be the one to pull the trigger... "

"I know."

"And to use your best friend as the bullet..."

"I know!" Amy suddenly shouted and then looked uneasy, "Sorry," she apologised, "I guess I just... Sonic won't think about it either. I think he feels responsible for Cosmo's death just as much as Tails does because of the whole... Sonic Canon thing."

Rouge nodded in understanding. 

"Shadow was different," she murmured, recalling that the red and black hedgehog had also been a part of the 'bullet' that killed Cosmo, "Back then he kept his friends away from him and his enemies even further. Ironically, I think he felt closest to Sonic out of all us. Still do, if you want my opinion."

"How_ is _Shadow?" Amy asked politely, hoping to turn the conversation around.

"Shadow? He's fine. Still a good-looking grump bag," Rouge answered, a gleam coming to her eye, "Really ought to thank Shade for that, I reckon. She and Shadow made pretty good friends. There are times when Shadow actually pretends to listen to me when I talk to him now." She and Amy both laughed jovially into the clear autumn day.

"I'm glad Shade has fitted in so well," Amy commented, "I know I was a bit off with her to begin with, what with her interest in Sonic and everything..."

"Same here, sweetheart," Rouge grunted, thinking of the pretty echidna girl and the way she seemed to follow Sonic and Knuckles about as though they were her bodyguards... She was feeling a little nauseus just thinking about it.

"...but I'm glad she's bonded with Shadow and made a friend out of him. They have a lot in common."

"Yeah, they can sit around not talking to each other," Rouge chuckled and then winced as a frown passed her.

"You okay?" Amy asked, raising an eye.

"Felt a little sick," Rouge admitted and then cocked her head back thoughtfully, "That was a weird time."

"What was?"

"Everything that lead up to meeting Shade and all those other echidnas. Funny that it all began with Eggman's hiatus - just like now."

Amy realised she was right. Eggman had done a disappearing act back then too, just like he was doing right now.

"We found him in one of his old facilities, didn't we?" Rouge pondered, "GUN's been trying to do something similar. Backtracking and all."

"I'll bet. Sonic got a call from them, you know, but he wasn't prepared to help them."

"Makes sense," Rouge nodded, "When you have a history like Sonic does with Eggman, you're not likely to want to relive any of it." It was then that Rouge looked lost in thought. "Still, it makes me wonder..."

"About?"

"About Eggman's facilites. How many do you think he's got? I'll bet hundreds. Wherever there's been a major fight between Sonic and Eggman, maybe."

"Maybe," Amy just responded casually.

Rouge glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. 

"What were they like back then?" she asked slowly, "Eggman and Big Blue, I mean."

They had arrived at Amy's front door and the young 22 year old hedgehog went about scrabbling in her handbag for her keys. Her snout had tightened and her eyes flashed.

"They were cat and mouse," she answered quietly, "But neither of them knew which was the cat and which was the mouse. I guess what worried me was that no-one could tell if Eggman was trying to build an empire and catch Sonic while he was at it..." Amy opened the front door and set down her bags, leaning against the wall, "Or..." she added, "if he was set on catching Sonic and was trying to build an empire while he was at **that**."

* * *

While Rouge was collecting intel, Shadow and Omega had recently arrived on South Island, a historical landmark as far as the rest of the planet was concerned. It was home to the descendents of some of the oldest families of Mobius and it was, generally, left alone, treated as some kind of preserve rather than a holiday destination. There were strict rules and regulations that had to be observed for anyone attempting to travel there for whatever reason.

Being agents of GUN, Shadow and Omega were above those rules.

Shadow knew that there was one place he had to check out first, an area that he always heard much about but had never actually, properly, enjoyed for himself: Green Hill Zone.

It was far grander than one might envision: a humble, hilly meadow with checkered earth, streams, gorges and, of course, the sweeping round rocky structures that Sonic was known for sprinted up and over in one fluid momentum. In reality, it was that and so much more. There were also vast lakes and towering cliffs and deep ravines, all criss-crossing in a maze of pathways and tunnels. It wasn't hard to see why Sonic had loved it here or why he secretly went off by himself to come here so often (oh yes, Shadow was aware of that). Green Hill Zone was Sonic's Zone. It was where he felt the most like himself.

"You have anything on file, Omega?" Shadow asked his robotic friend. Omega's optics briefly flickered as a quiet whirring noise sounded in his head.

"_**Searching files...**__" _he bleeped, "**Information on ****File:SouthIslandFile:GreenHillZone****. Report reads: 'Due to fertile soil from volcanic eruptions, Green Hill holds a flourishing eco-system...’**"

"Omega," Shadow murmured patiently, pinching the bridge of his nose, "That wasn't actually what I meant. I was hoping you might be able to tell me anything about how this place relates to Eggman and Sonic."

Omega straightened and gave a few more clicks. 

"_**Searching files...**__" _he repeated, "_**Accessing GUN database... information retrieval... **_**Information on ****File:ArchivedReportsFile:SouthIslandFile:GreenHillZoneFile:June1991****... Report reads: June 23rd - Reported suspect ****Dr Ivo Julian Robotnik**** seen fleeing area upon meeting conflict with ****Unknown Civilian****. June 24th - Local information provides no evidence of ****Unknown Civilian****. June 25th - Unknown Civilian identified as a ****blue hedgehog****. Will investigate further. Report ends.**"

Shadow kicked at the ground. "Okay," he hummed, "Can that be narrowed down? Search for Sonic. Give me anything GUN has." Omega returned to the database and went about performing a more extensive search. After a few declarations of what it was his computer mind was accessing, Omega gave a stutter.

"**Shadow,**" he groaned, "**there is little data on Sonic. His files are encoded and stored in a deadlock file.**"

"What?" Shadow frowned, "But the Commander must know, surely!"

Omega gave a few more clicks. 

"**Negative. Commander is not authorised to access Deadlock File.**"

"What about Eggman?"

"_**Searching... **_**Dr Ivo Julian Robotnik, Alias: Eggman, Date of Birth: Unknown, Family: Unnamed Father (deceased), ****Unnamed Mother****, Unnamed Brother, ****Brother****, ****Nephew****, ****Paternal Grandafther**** (deceased), Unnamed Cousin, Unnamed Cousin, ****Cousin ****(deceased)..." **

Shadow let out a sigh again. Omega took the hint.

**"...**_**Searching**_**... ****File:DrIvoJulianRobotnik****... **_**narrowing search**_**... ****File:SouthIslandFile:DrIvoJulianRobotnik****File:Robotropolis**."

"Anything?" Shadow prompted eagerly as Omega went quiet for a moment.

"**...Deadlock File.**"

Shadow then swore very, very loudly.

* * *

As something hard hit the door, Sonic hesitated.

From the sounds of things, Vector was on the brink of getting his long jaw stuck into a new case. He could hear the burly crocodile from outside, shouting and jumping and banging things about in his excitement. 

Rolling his eyes and mentally reminding himself that he could get Tails to pay him back later, Sonic opened the door to the Chaotix Detective Agency, stepping over a kettle that had been lobbed at the wall beside it. As soon as the little bell tinkled to signify a visitor, Vector and Charmy called a cease fire and Espio deemed it safe enough to crawl out from beneath the table, dusting himself off and looking as professional as he could.

As detectives, the Chaotix were... well... chaotic and wild but, at the end of the day, they were the best at their jobs and 9/10 times, a case was solved with impressive skill and speed.

"Hey, Sonic!" Charmy Bee buzzed with a grin, flitting over the head of Vector, "What're you doing here?"

The hyperactive bee was a sixteen year old teenager now but could still act very childishly when he wanted to be. His limbs had grown longer and his wings were larger but, other than that, he still possessed a round face and child-like eyes. Sonic couldn't deny the young thing was sharp, though. Far sharper than anyone was willing to let on.

"On an errand for Tails," the hedgehog replied, "Heard you were going to be taking the Harbour Case." He threw a memory stick over to Espio who handed it silently to Vector.

"Yeah, that's right," the crocodile, now in his early thirties, had grunted, "How'd yer find that out?"

Sonic winked mischieviously. "Ah let's face it, Vector," he chuckled, "The Harbour Case was a big shake-up for Westopolis. Who else are they going to bring in to sort it out?"

The crocodile looked very thoughtful before his face broke into a wide, toothy grin. 

"Guess yer've hit the nail on the head, Sonic. What's Tails given us then?"

"Some of the 'small details', I've been told. Lists of boats and dock workers and their recent schedual hours. Things like that to make your job easier."

"Don't suppose you know how Tails got all that?" Espio the Chameleon then spoke, able to watch the crocodile settle himself at the computer and get to work.

Sonic cleared his throat.

"Well..." he began awkwardly, "Let's just say that Tails can be very pro-active when it comes to helping out friends. The dock workers keep all records and sign-ins on a computer systerm so..."

"So Tails hacked them," Charmy finished with a laugh, "See, Vec? You can always trust Team Sonic to break the law."

"Aw, you wouldn't turn in your own teammates, would you?" Sonic pouted, "I thought you liked being a part of the Ally Group."

Vector was still flashing his razor teeth. 

"We ain't coppers, Sonic," he said, shaking his head, "What Tails does in 'is own time is none of my business. Espio? See if yer can find these harbours on the web."

The chameleon got to work, typing away at his own desk and then grunted. 

"Huh, seems like there was trouble over at that medical facility," he murmured quietly, scanning the news website.

Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"Medical facility?"

"Medical facility, hospital... call it what yer will but everyone knows that's an asylum they got up there," Vector huffed, "Anythin' Espio?"

"Got it," Espio nodded, "2 hour drive from here. We'll have to get going."

Sonic quietly excused himself and let the detectives get on with their jobs. He couldn't even think why someone would need to steal a boat anyway and so he made another mental note to check in with the Chaotix later to find out the results.

In the meantime, the fastest creature in the universe went on his way, strolling from the Chaotix Detective Agency and down past the shopping malls. It was still bitterly cold and the human population of Mobius, residents from the Other World known as Earth, were wrapped up warm in thick coats, scarves, gloves and hats along with the cold-blooded Sapient Mobians such as the reptiles and amphibians, most of whom were probably wishing to migrate to the warmer countries for the winter with the rest of their cold-blooded kin. For his part, Sonic wasn't exactly warm but he wasn't unbearably cold either for his finer quills could trap warm air between them, a great source of insulation along with his downy front fur.

Childishly pretending to be a steam train, Sonic went along puffing out warm air like a dragon. He loved his friends but there were times he liked being by himself too. In fact, on a crisp day like today, there was nothing more he wanted to do but run.

And that's exactly what he did.


	6. Curiouser and Curiouser Said Alice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s no rest for Team Chaotix or Team Dark and answers, it seems, are one of the most difficult things to come by...

Travelling East through the country of South Island, Shadow had calmed down from Omega's disappointing report and was now trying to get a hold of his remaining Team Dark teammate.

"Rouge?" he barked, "Come in, Rouge, are you there?"

"_I'm here_," Rouge's sultry voice replied over his communicator, "_what's the issue_?"

"Found anything from Amy?"

"_Oh, have I_?" the bat laughed gleefully, "_Get your head round this: Sonic might not have been born on South Island_."

Shadow's eyes widened. "What? But that's..."

"_Where the world first discovered him and Eggman, yes_," Rouge was nodding on her end of the comms having hidden herself away in Amy's bathroom, "_But Amy's just dropped the bomb that Sonic's birth certificate, which is something considered as mythical as the realm of Atlantis, doesn't say he was born on South Island. In fact, archived GUN reports heavily suggest that he was born on one of the Abandoned Isles_."

The Ultimate Lifeform hated it when everything he thought he knew was thrown into question which, thanks to fate's cruel sense of humour, only seemed to happen too often to him. So many people had made a big deal about Green Hill and about how Sonic and Eggman's duel had come to the attention of the rest of the world that it was widely assumed that, since Sonic had been so young, it had been the area he was most familiar with, i.e. his place of birth.

Sonic had never said he_ wasn't _born there. Did _he_ even know where he was born?

"**It is certain that Sonic was born of ****natural**** circumstances and does not possess an approved license?**" Omega drawled slowly.

Rouge let out a sigh.

"_For the last time, Omega_," she answered, "_they did the tests and found that Sonic was born naturally. He wasn't created in a laboratory like Shadow was_."

"Remember what I taught you, Omega: question everything," Shadow muttered out of the side of his mouth, nudging his favourite robot.

"_Shadow_," Rouge warned, "_your comms are still on. I can hear you_."

Shadow was a bad influence on Omega sometimes and the bat worried that the dark hedgehog might fill the poor robot's mind up with extravagent stories and twisted ideals. Omega, on the other hand, seemed to be lost in deep thought about the idea of Sonic's birth.

"_**Processing...**_**error!"** he suddenly bleeped, "**Knowledge of natural conception and birth contradicts the logic of Sonic's abilities. Does not compute...does not compute...**"

"Now look what you've done," Shadow growled down his communicator, "Omega's having a breakdown."

"_Just give him a few thumps, see if that sorts him out_."

"Omega isn't an old computer, Rouge."

"_Of course not! He's our sweetie_!"

"Never say that again." He gave Omega a thwack on his back and, after a sickening grinding noise, the large E-Series Robot seemed to calm down. "Are you okay, Omega?" Shadow asked, genuinely concerned.

The robot's optics flickered. 

"**Affirmative,**" he squeaked, "**Apologies. My data systems overloaded**."

Shadow shook his head, more pleased by the fact that his friend was okay. 

"Don't worry about it. There are many things about that Faker that don't add up and it makes MY head hurt too. He never _did _tell me how he could perform Chaos Control with a fake emerald."

"..._He did what?_" Rouge cried over the comms.

"Just keep me up to date with developments," Shadow replied, "The GUN databanks have some file called "Robotropolis" that could be here on South Island. Omega and I are going to investigate but I need you to look into any of the other islands."

_"Whatever you say, BOSS_."

Then there was silence.

"Come on, Omega. Let's go," Shadow growled, stalking forward more determined than ever to get some answers. Omega followed in his wake, the quiet companion.

* * *

For hours, the two doggedly explored the island, discovering all manner of wildlife and villages full of silent residents. Finally having enough, Shadow cornered an old cat, asking for any information regarding Robotropolis. The cat's face grew frightened.

"Naw, yer 'ush that mouth, son," he hissed, "That city ain't be named fer a lon' time. Folks say it be a-bringin' bad luck."

"Robotropolis is a city?" Shadow frowned, "What kind and where?"

The cat leant heavily upon its rake and it clutched worriedly at its jacket. "Why yer be wantin' t' know, boy?"

"We need to find it. We're on important business and we won't deal with time-wasters."

"Business, eh?" the cat murmured, shaking his head, "No livin' soul be 'avin' any business wi' that part o' hell. Nothin' fer yer there save fer th' stench o' grease an' th' cold bitin' metal. All 'round, it jus' be metal. No life. No sun. Only memories floatin' 'bout there be bad ones. Evil memories. Do yerself a favour, boy; stay away."

Shadow bared his teeth and took a step towards the cat. "We're going there," he snapped, "Nothing will stop that. Now tell me about Robotropolis!"

The cat began to shake, unnerved by Shadow's piercing red eyes. "Y...Yer real willin' t' go t' one o' Robotnik's cities?" he whimpered.

Shadow's ears pivoted.

"Robotnik?" he repeated slowly and the cat nodded.

"Back in th' day..." the cat began and then started to silently weep, "Ooh, th' poor lads n' lasses that were marched t' that city an' never came back... Th' toad o' a man, that Robotnik! Tooks th' 'ealthy an' r'boties 'em, leavin' th' rest t' pay 'is taxes an' suffer out in th' country. If i' weren't fer that Sonic boy..." Shadow's eyes narrowed at this point, "Oh, that poor liddle 'oglet. Robotnik were after 'im th' worst. Couldn't settle fer a moment, that boy, not wi' Robotnik after 'im. Th' poor, poor boy. 'E finally chased that madman off th' island after...after..."

"After what?" Shadow barked, gripping the old cat by the arm. The cat was still weeping.

"'E were so young!" he sniffed, "Not right. No, not right. Not when _both_ were after 'im. Th' poor lad!" It was clear they weren't going to get any more information out of him.

"Where?" Shadow snarled.

The cat held up a shaking paw. "East."

* * *

Charmy kicked a stone into the water at the docks, slightly bored now that he had 'secured the area' as Vector had asked.

"So yer the one who was on guard, am I right?" the imposing crocodile was saying to a slightly unnerved beaver in a security guard's uniform.

"Uh... aye, Sir... Aye, that was me," the beaver, who's nametag simply spelt 'Dwayne', nodded, trying not to look at Vector's mouth in fear of seeing any teeth jutting out. Vector was oblivious to Dwayne's discomfort and continued scribbling notes down.

"Yer shift was from 21:00 to 2:30 whereby a colleague comes to relieve yer from 2:30 to 6:00," he went on saying, recalling the information from Tails' report, "Which means, if I'm being told right, yer the one who were on duty at the time of the crime. Yer followin'?"

Dwayne nodded, hard. "Oh aye, Sir. That were me, Sir. I heard it, Sir."

"_Aye, Sir, me, Sir, anything you want, Sir_," Charmy muttered mockingly under his breath.

Vector either didn't hear him or chose to simply ignore him.

"Yer heard it?" he repeated, "Yer heard what, 'xactly?"

"I heard the boat, Sir," Dwayne answered, "Heard it... heard it start up and then when I comes running from the security shed I sees him driving off in it."

"Definitely a male?"

"Looked to be male, Sir."

"Uh-huh," Vector was nodding, deciding to fall back on an old trick he had learnt which was to open his jaw a little and run a tantalising tongue over one of his sharp teeth which did wonders for getting answers, "So, what kinda boat was it, eh?"

"Oh, er, I dunno 'bout that, Sir. Not too good with boats, see? But it was one with a motor, Sir, I know 'cause I heard it."

Charmy afforded himself an eyeroll at that point. 

"Spare me his genius," the teenage bee mouthed to himself. He was overjoyed when their silent colleague appeared out of nowhere, causing Dwayne the Beaver to jump a few inches into the air.

"Vector?" the chameleon said in a rich tone, indicating that he wished to speak with the crocodile.

Vector tapped his notebook and gave the beaver Security Guard a look. 

"'Scuse me a moment." He and Espio took a few paces to one side with Charmy in their wake. "What is it, Espio?" Vector asked quietly, "You had a look around?" 

The chameleon nodded and folded his arms, closing his eyes as he recounted his report.

"All other means to get into the harbour are secured and haven't been tampered with. There's no disturbed fencing so he hasn't dug his way in and there are two problems with that anyway: the ground is concrete and the hounds would have picked up a scent. Therefore that leaves two possible options; our thief came in via the sky or he came via boat. Again, there's no trace of scent, I'm told, on either side of the fence that surrounds the harbour and there have been no reports of any aircraft in the area - only the sound of a motor boat at the time of the theft."

"So you're saying it's likely the thief came to the harbour in a boat?"

"But then the guy stole a boat," Charmy pointed out, entering the conversation, "Who comes in a boat to steal a boat?" He felt Vector's strong disciplining hand upon his shoulders.

"Come on, Charmy lad, use yer brains that we've be workin' on," he growled with a twinkle in his reptilian eyes, "Why d'er think someone would 'xchange one thing fer another?"

The bee, now reaching Vector's chest in his teenage years thanks to his growth spurt and long legs, bowed his head and rubbed his chin. Finally, he snapped his fingers. 

"...Ah! Because he wanted an upgrade!" he grinned triumphantly, "He came in a cheapo boat and got himself a better one!"

"There yer go," Vector nodded with some pride, "Now if we wanna prove that, we need to find us some evidence, don't we? Since it was yer idea, how's about yer go off with Espio and look fer that 'cheapo boat' while I finish drillin' Mr 'Yes-Sir', over there?"

Charmy looked between Vector and Espio for confirmation before pumping his fist.

"Sweet!"

Minutes later, Charmy was shadowing Espio as they swept the docks, checking every boat and dingy.

Back when he was a little grub of a bee, Charmy hadn't felt much like a proper detective. He had been the kid that they toted around to be a protege, really. Now he was a fully certified apprentice amateur detective and his chest couldn't be more inflated.

"So why'd you think this guy comes to steal a better boat?" he asked Espio, privately wishing Cream were here to see him do all this important detective work.

"He certainly hasn't come to steal a car which indicates he wishes to be somewhere offshore," Espio replied, effortlessly springing up to perfectly perch on a floating buoy, looking around him.

Charmy continued on, peering between the masts and lifting tarpaulins. 

"Like he's going to an island?"

Espio nodded, returning to the jetty. 

"Indeed," he said, "Staff say that the boat taken was a powerful motor boat which tells you, what?"

Ah, more training! Charmy clicked his fingers, hoping to impress the 'smartest member of Team Chaotix' as some referred to Espio as.

"...Well," he began, really giving it thought as they moved on to the next jetty near a stony beach, "if he was gonna sell it on later, he'd make a lot of money... but if he WAS going somewhere, it would be somewhere further out which is why he needed a better boat so he could get there faster, right?" The look he gave his ninja friend almost dared him to say he was wrong.

Fortunately, Espio wasn't going to do that, instead nodding with a smile. 

"Correct."

Another fist pump for Charmy, celebrating by picking up a pebble from the shore and hurling into the sea.

"I do not think this was a theft for money," Espio continued, checking the boats once more, "If that were the case, he would have taken the most expensive boat which is over there. The fact that he has not indicates he only wanted a means of transportation."

"I'm learning, aren't I?" Charmy grinned, plucking another stone from the ground and watching it sail into the water with a _splish!_ and a peculiar _thunk_!.

"That you are, Charmy," Espio agreed.

The bee had stepped onto the jetty and was now stooping over the edge, peering into the sea where his stone had hit and made the unusual noise.

"Do you think Vector will give me a promotion?" he murmured questioningly.

Espio smiled and glanced over.

"For working out simple deductions after getting easy prompts?"

Charmy pointed into the water with his gloved hand. 

"More for the fact that I've found the cheapo boat."

* * *

Amy's meal had gone down a treat with everyone, especially Rosemary who had asked, extremely politely, for seconds. Laughing and chatting, it was easy to while away time in one another's company, forgetting about the cares of the world in favour of enjoying a few moments of bliss among close friends. Sonic and Tails often fell back into talking about the 'golden years' when they had been young and had rushed about without any adult supervision, getting themselves into trouble.

To Tails' mortification, Zooey seemed to lap up all the stories Sonic had on what Tails had been like as a tiny fox cub, embelishing tales that didn't seem exciting or embarassing enough. Tails was able to get his own back, however, and recouted many stories of when Sonic had found himself in the sticky situation or had resorted to cross-dressing to get what he wanted.

Halfway through one such story, Sonic had been trying to hide his discomfort by taking another mouthful of pudding but almost dropped his spoon as a warm wave washed over him.

"You okay, sweetie?" Amy had asked, beside him, noticing his frown. The frown immediately disappeared as Sonic beamed at her.

"How fine do you think I can be with Tails blabbing his mouth off?" Sonic joked with a laugh, secretly hiding the real answer behind his sparkling emerald eyes. The truth was that the feeling that had come over him was of a very specific kind.

It had been Chaos Energy.

Only those truly at one with the ways of Chaos could manipulate the energy to act as a way of communication between each other. It only meant one thing - someone was trying to get his attention. Having spent years perfecting the art of Chaos, Sonic knew, all too well, who it was that was contacting him.

"...Hang on guys, I'll be right back," he murmured, excusing himself discretely. Zooey, distracted by a babbling Rosemary, did not notice the exchange between Amy and Tails. They may not have been as tuned as Sonic was, but they knew when something was bothering him.

Outside, the cool night air was beginning to feel damp but Sonic hardly noticed. He was drawn to a dark figure leant against the cherry tree in Amy's front garden.

"You know I'm kinda busy," Sonic murmured, walking over to the shape, "Trying to spend time with the family and all that."

"Yes, I have eyes. I can see that," the figure replied, turning towards him and stepping out of the gloom.

Sonic gazed at Shadow with a solemn disposition.

"...What's the issue?" he asked after a long pause.

Shadow rarely made social calls on people outside of his own working hours and certainly not to see _him_. The darker hedgehog waved a file in his left hand and handed it over.

"You tell me..." he growled.

For a moment, Sonic stared at Shadow, trying to determine what was going on - but Shadow had his very best poker face on at the present and so he sighed and opened up the file. The first thing he saw was the large glossy photo revealing Eggman's grim mugshot. The next thing he noticed were the many photos accompanying it showing Eggman out and about in his eggmobile, foraging in the forest and walking along the beach.

Slowly, Sonic felt his quills bristle, one by one, at the sight of his arch enemy.

He gnawed at his lower lip and peered up at Shadow from beneath half-lidded eyes. "...The G.U.N. sent you, I presume?"

"They weren't going to but I actually insisted on this."

Sonic glanced back at the photos for another few seconds. 

"...So what's the deal?" he asked, skim reading the reports, "We all knew he wasn't going to be hiding away forever."

"I suppose we weren't prepared for the lack of flair," Shadow responded, folding his arms over his chest, "There's no giant robot, no fleet, no dimensional disturbances, no reports from Silver, no sudden space work... He's just shown up. Not even trying to keep a low profile. No flahses, no bangs, no pops. GUN picked him up immediately."

Sonic was staring into the file, recognising that something was amiss. He looked up again and pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth. 

"...There's something that's meant to be in this file but isn't... Am I right?"

Shadow said nothing. He looked away, torn. Then he pulled out another envelope, tossing it over for Sonic to catch, which he did so. Inside were more photos.

Only this time, Eggman was posing aggressively, sometimes glaring at the camera, sometimes stabbing knives into trees where he had carved out Sonic's name. He had even held up a picture of Sonic and had torn it. On the beach, he had drawn out Sonic's face and driven a stake straight over it... Other photos were more graphic than that.

Neither hedgehog said a word.

Nearby, an owl hooted into the still night.

"He's really not intent on playing with you this time," Shadow's voice broke the silence.

Sonic was still staring at what he held in his hands, multiple feelings coursing through him all at the same time. 

"We've done this dance for years, Shadow," he finally muttered, "One day he'll grow too old, too senile, too cracked to do anything. Until then, we'll keep dancing." Shoving the photos back in the envelope and tucking said envelope into the file, he chucked it back for Shadow to take. "Thanks for the warning," he said softly, turning back towards the house.

"You think he'll really be lenient with you when what's left of his sanity completely shatters?" Shadow asked, stopping him. Sonic was now staring at the door and he shrugged.

"Can't imagine that IQ of his staying at the same number and that's all I'll say about that."

Shadow leant back against the tree again and bowed his head. 

"Hate to be _that_ guy," he said gently, "but you haven't forgotten his grandfather, have you? You know, my creator? That fellow?" His gaze was firmly rooted on the back of Sonic's head. "When _his_ sanity went he tried to take vengeance on the whole planet, intending to kill everyone. Seems to run in the family. Now what makes you think Eggman's going to let you waltz around pretty as you please?" He straightened up and walked towards his look-alike, standing just over his shoulder. "He hates you," he breathed, "He's only losing his sanity so quickly_ because _of you and you know that very well. So if he's going, you can bet your spines he's intending to take you with him."

Sonic shifted slightly and then turned to face Shadow.

"Usually I aim to please. But I guess, if that's the case, I'll have to disappoint him."

The two of them gazed into each other's eyes, an unspoken respect passing between them.

"...Watch your back, Faker," Shadow warned, "He's set on having your pelt whether you want him to or not."

Then came the smile that Shadow had grown to both loathe and admire.

"I _am_ looking handsomely blue today, aren't I?" Sonic joked, letting out a chuckle. Despite himself, Shadow gave a half-smile back.

"And if you want to stay that way, you'll be careful." He pressed his hand on Sonic's shoulder and nodded. "I'll be seeing you around." Shadow normally prevented any kind of physical contact with the likes of Sonic - both hedgehogs found their quills tightening at the very thought of it - but while they considered each other the fiercest of rivals, they were also protective of one another.

"Oh and by the way..." Shadow then mentioned over his shoulder, before Sonic could reach the front door, "...Omega and I visited Robotropolis the other day."

The blue hedgehog froze.

His hand, in the process of reaching for the door handle, went stiff.

"Charming city. Really charming," Shadow continued, watching Sonic's reaction closely. His rival hadn't moved a fraction and he couldn't see his face. "I can see why you never mentioned it. The place hasn't seen the sun in over a decade. No plant life, no animal life, and the only working light happened to be a cracked traffic-"

"Why did you go there?" Sonic interuppted sharply, his voice sounding... different. It was a tight voice, one that was holding back something.

Shadow leant against Amy's garden fence, monitoring the situation keenly. 

"We're trying to keep tabs on Eggman," he murmured, "As _you_ should be if you want to live another 25 years. We had to find out about Robotropolis for ourselves seeing as no-one cared to give us a head's up." Shadow had scarcely finished the sentence before Sonic was speaking again.

"But _why?_" he hissed, "Robotropolis was put behind us. We don't talk about it."

"Some of us weren't around when that was decided."

Sonic's head dropped as he now placed his hands either side of the door, feet spaced apart.

"It was Eggman's place, yes?" Shadow went on slowly, not too eager to push it, "What happened there that you don't want to remember?"

Sonic only gave him silence.

"Sonic, I need to know," Shadow pressed gently, "We need to find out what Eggman's doing. He's threatening you and we don't know why. Any information can-"

"It was the one city I couldn't save," Sonic suddenly cried, turning around suddenly, his eyes betraying a great deal of pain as his breaths came out in ragged gasps. Shadow's words faltered in his mouth and he kept quiet. Sonic seemed to be wrestling with a large amount of emotion and Shadow briefly feared that it would corrupt his Chaos energy - a situation that only resulted in something **dark**.

"Robo... Robotropolis was... was once an ordinary city. Mobotropolis, it was called. The Capital of the planet. I... I believe my heritage came from there. It was where my ancestors came from." Sonic swallowed and sank down to sit on the front step. "I mean, I guess. I don't really know. All I do know is that it hadn't been long since I'd met Tails and Robotnik came and..." He swallowed again. "I... tried to stop him. But I had Tails and..." He then gritted his teeth and leapt up to his feet. "Mobotropolis was destroyed and Robotropolis took its place, okay? Robotnik took a thriving, beautiful city and built a slavery settlement on top of its corpse." Though he said this with anger, Sonic went back to looking sad once more. "Please, Shadow," he begged, "don't ask me any more about it. Eggman used to live there and now he doesn't. End of story."

Without waiting for another word, Sonic turned and disappeared inside the house.

Shadow let out a long sigh and teleported away.


	7. The Book of Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another member of the Robotnik family is revealed while Team Dark take a moment to contemplate the information they’ve found out. The last thing Shadow needs, therefore, is for Omega to drop a non-literal bomb in his lap...

"So, you've made your return public," Ira was saying, reclining on a lounge seat with a recently emptied wine glass in his hand, "What do you intend to do now?"

"Nothing." 

His brother's reply took Ira by surprise. Sensing his younger brother's bewildered gaze boring into his neck, Eggman swivelled round in his high back chair.

"I'll let them stew," he explained, "GUN has no idea about our research. They weren't around during the times when you and I roamed freely, doing what we liked, supporting natural selection..."

"One of us did, Ivo," Ira breathed, his jaw clentching discretely, "One of us lapped up the life of luxury and knowledge whilst the other wasted 5 years trying to find a wretched baby hedgehog."

Eggman sensed the hostility and he smiled at it. 

"Well, you'll be satisfied to know that I paid my price in wasting a further _20_ years going after the same hedgehog. It _should _be your turn now."

"Should?"

"I say that because it isn't." Eggman then laughed, wheeling back to finish scribbling down something on a crumpled sheet of paper. "You couldn't bag a little scrap of a hoglet. What chance do you think you have now that he's a grown adult with full control of his abilities? No, you take it easy, little brother; with you at my side again, I feel that I might finally put in some real effort to unearth the secret of Sonic the Hedgehog."

Ira carefully placed the wine glass on the table beside him.

"If I'm not going back out there to finish what I started," he murmured slowly and supiciously, "then who is?"

Eggman leant back, the chair beneath him groaning in protest. 

"Well, no-one yet," he murmured back, "But, I suppose the really obvious answer to that..." A cunning shine appeared in Eggman's hidden pupils, and he slowly turned back, cocking an overly bushy eyebrow, "I've never shown you my greatest creation, have I?"

It seemed a rather random question but, since he knew his brother's mind to be constantly in a state of insane flux, Ira had learnt to cope with it. In answer to Eggman's question, Ira shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. You said that so often about your inventions."

"Ah, but that was before. Even _I_ ackowledge that I have never built anything as great as this since its birth. You must see." The rotuned genius scientist climbed up to his feet and beckoned with a surprisingly elegant hand. "Orbot? Cubot? You come too. Come say hello to the Black Sheep of your robotic 'brotherhood'."

The last thing the two robot lackeys were hoping was to step a servo back in, what they had privately come to refer as, the Crypt.

At the very end of the enormouse chamber, two metal doors were set with no inscription of any kind save for one small keypad with a screen.

"You know, through all the years I've known this place, it remained a mystery to me as to what you kept behind here," Ira had said, hiding his great excitement.

Eggman still said nothing. He gazed into the screen and typed in a code that none of them saw. Then the great doors slid ominously open, years of dust and neglect rising up to water the eyes of the organics as a neon blue glow shone out from the wires in the walls, bathing them all in an unnatural light.

"Cast your eyes on that, Ira," Eggman grinned darkly, pride emanating from his spectacles.

Ira looked.

"...Ivo..." he sighed in legitamite awe, unable to find the right words.

Orbot and Cubot, who had no breath to spare, simply stared.

"M-M-Metal Sonic?" Orbot chattered, his poor processor beginning to burn from old memories.

In the room beyond the doors stood the grandest capsule of them all - a tall, threatening pod where wires and tubes ran in and out, all connected to the many computers that made up two sides of the walls and the single, sinister occupant inside the capsule itself.

Metal Sonic, in all his deadly glory, was still and showed no signs of life to look at, suspended in the pod amidst the web of wiring that were plugged to his body.

"Oh come now, Orbot," Eggman soothed, uncomfortingly, "You know Metal Sonic, don't you?"

Boy did every robot know about Metal Sonic.

"I know that we weren't allowed to communicate directly with him," the red little android replied, "We weren't even allowed to be alone in the same room together. You... You never told us why."

"Well, after what happened to one of the Beebots..." Eggman shrugged and then winked at his brother, "Let's just say that Metal... He doesn't always get along well with others. Some days, he's fine. Other days? Not so fine."

Cubot shrank away from Eggman's gaze by moving behind Orbot, unable to look up at what he had just seen. "He would have minced the pair of you into spaghetti," he heard Eggman mumble.

"So," Ira then interrupted, not willing to step closer and yet unable to tear his eyes away, "you've kept him offline because...?"

"Metal is... faulty," Eggman explained, rubbing the back of his neck, "By which I mean that his programming is corrupted. I originally had him built to combat Sonic in every way, to appear superior to him... But something seemed to override this. Now, Metal is as obsessed with Sonic as we are - but for different purposes. Metal only wants to prove that he's the _real_ Sonic, the better Sonic, if you will. Sometimes he's okay but sometimes..." Eggman let out a little grunt, "Sometimes, Metal gets a bit too worked up and has been known to attack Sonic without being ordered to. He's inherited the Robotnik Insanity, I'm afraid. For the sake of my other schemes, it was best that I keep him offline until the situation desperately calls for it. Chaos knows that the planet will be screaming on the day I let Metal out to play."

Ira gazed at the robot hedgehog longingly before, "...I want to see Sonic again."

Eggman turned his head to his brother and frowned.

"And reveal yourself?" he asked.

Ira Robotnik slowly nodded. 

"Yes. I want him to know that I'm back and that I haven't forgotten him."

Eggman moved his hands behind his back and held them there, looking back to Metal Sonic, appearing as the man who knew great secrets - which, in retroflection, he most likely did.

"Do what you must, Ira..." he slowly drawled, "but don't forget: that hedgehog is _my_ enemy and _I'll_ be the one to deal with him. Understand?"

From the corner of his eye, he saw his younger, thinner, brother bow slightly, a cruel smile twisting its way onto his features. 

"...Of course, big brother. Of course."

* * *

Rouge looked up as Shadow strode in through the doors of the diner like the Grim Reaper, his face clouded and taught with concern, moving past the tables silently as he made his way towards their booth at the back.

"Well?" the bat asked in low voice, no trace of any merriment present.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," Shadow admitted, "Sonic is very closed up about Robotropolis. What I _did_ learn is that it used to be a city called _Mobo_tropolis. Apparently it was the planet capital."

"I remember," Rouge then nodded, "During my time as a thief on the streets, I remember people talking about Dr Eggman and what he was doing - The Robotnik Plague, they called it. They say the city was cleared out in one evening. Anyone who didn't escape in time were turned into robots. Some life."

Omega had brought food a while ago which Rouge had just finished, not really feeling up to it. 

"**More food, Rouge?**" the robot asked politely, fetching more nibbles for Shadow.

Rouge shook her head, contemplating a dash to the ladies. 

"No, I couldn't. I'm full," she replied.

Omega tried pushing a bowl towards her. "**Have some iron-rich...**"

"I said no, Omega," Rouge laughed, "Stop trying to fatten me up. Feed Shadow, if you must. I'll order drinks."

"**No, I shall order drinks**," Omega interrupted, his joints clanking as he hurriedly moved to get back to his feet, "**I want to order the beverages this time.**"

"...Fine. Whatever," Rouge sighed, waving a dismissive hand. Omega stomped off in as dignified a manner as a robot could manage, ignoring the looks from other dining Mobians. "So you reckon Eggman could be in Robotropolis?" Rouge tried prompting, stirring the conversation back up.

Shadow rolled an olive between his thumb and finger. "I think not," he growled, "Omega and I searched the place and it hasn't been touched in years. Nothing but desolate castles and abandoned factories. No leftover robots either." The olive went in his mouth. "It's completely dead."

Rouge started playing with her communicator, lost in thought. 

"We're getting closer," she murmured, "Eggman can't hide forever. He's made his point clear. Even if we don't find him, he'll find us."

"You mean he'll find Sonic..."

That was when Omega returned, carefully balancing a tray of drinks in his hand. 

"**Here are the drinks,**" he proudly announced, depositing the tray down in front of his two teammates. Shadow and Rouge blinked at the tray and glanced up at the robot.

"...Fruit juice?" Rouge smiled, "That's real kind of you sweetie but... well, with a mission like this, I think Shadow and I will need something a little more alcoholic."

Omega's optics flickered slightly. 

"**...I apologise**," he whirred, "**I was merely being mindful of your... kidneys**."

"Our kidneys?"

"**Vast units of alcaholic drinks put great strain upon the kidneys." **

"Rouge and I are not intending to get drunk," Shadow muttered, folding his arms and not looking at the orange and mango drink with the orange slice on top.

"Just one drink, honey. That's all," Rouge said sweetly, batting her eyelashes.

Omega looked down pathetically at the two drinks he had carefully chosen. 

"**...I was given fruit juice**."

"The bartender gave you fruit juice?"

Omega let out a little whine. "**...Yes." **

"Omega," Rouge chuckled, "if there is one thing you cannot do very well, it's lie."

Not knowing what else to do, Omega lifted the tray again. 

"**...Fruit juice?**" he offered.

* * *

An hour later, Rouge left for Angel Island and Shadow and Omega went back to their rented GUN apartment in the city of Station Square. It wasn't as good as their apartment in Westopolis but as a temporary overnight stop, it was decent accommodation. Before they reached the apartment block, however, Shadow stopped his friend outside the doors.

"What was all that before, Omega?" Shadow demanded to know, firmly rooting himself directly in the robot's way. There was a clear moment of panic in Omega's eye.

"**Pardon, friend? I did not understand you." **

"That whole kidney thing," Shadow sighed, "Where did that come from?"

"**...I researched an article explaining...**"

"Omega? Look me in the eye and tell me the truth."

Omega apparently couldn't look Shadow in the eye and he hung his head in shame. 

"**...I was bad.**" His child-like tone surprised Shadow.

"Bad?" the dark hedgehog repeated with a frown, "In what way? What have you done?"

"**I have committed an action that Rouge has since wished I not do.**"

"And what's that?"

"**...I scanned her without consent.**"

"And you've worked out she has something wrong with her kidneys?"

"**Rouge's kidneys function well.**" Omega then went very, VERY quiet. "**However, I detected a foreign body... in her womb." **

It only took Shadow a second for the penny to drop along with his jaw.

"...Oh Omega..." he groaned, leaning against the wall and pinching his nose.

"**It was before she expressed her wish that I not scan her**," Omega tried to justify himself, "**When we met with the Commander. I have not the information on how to proceed with this development. Organic reproduction is beyond me.**"

"It's beyond me too," Shadow moaned into his hands.

"**How best shall I inform Agent Rouge?**"

Shadow wheeled round to him and grabbed him by the robot's enormous shoulders. 

"Inform? No, Omega, no, you don't tell her!" he snarled.

Omega looked confused. "**I do not?**"

"No, you don't breathe a word. You have to let her find out by herself."

"**But impending mothers require rest and a healthy diet of rich nutrients. How best are we to supply these needs?" **

"We don't. I'm sure it won't be long before she works it out for herself. Until then, we keep quiet."

"**May we tell her after she discovers that she is pregnant?**"

"Keep your voice down, idiot!" Shadow looked round nervously and was relieved to discover they were alone. "And no, no we don't EVER tell her, got it?"

Omega lifted his head. **"**_**Processing... **_**Shadow, I am confused.**"

"Trust me on this and don't say anything." He then released the robot and, with an enormous sigh, turned away to better deal with this bombshell.

"**...Should we tell Knuckles?"**


	8. The Stones That Start The Avalanche

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A time to relax with friends, celebrate an announcement and worry about the mysterious stranger waiting to re-introduce himself.

Sonic had suggested that they all went to an evening picnic, of sorts, in the park, far out into the country, to 'calm everyone down', as he put it.

Word had spread like wildfire that Eggman had been spotted and that his time off was coming to a swift, unwelcome close. Many of the native Mobians were downright panicking that their months of peace might be taken away from them and, as such, the Sonic Allies were kept busy with reassuring the masses and putting on brave faces. The fact that Eggman had, as of yet, not actually done anything did not sit well with any of them. It was tiring to have to keep looking over your shoulder for fear that Eggman would suddenly spring a trap when you dared to lower your guard.

Still, just to put everyone in the right spirits, Sonic had thought that an evening together would be best for the team, to strengthen bonds, reestablish alliances and eat food.

The evening could not have been more beautiful; the moon was large, tinged orange, and the stars were beginning to slowly appear amid the darkening navy and coral sky.

Knuckles had brought Angel Island inland a little so that he was still in close contact with the Master Emerald as he and Rouge partook of the assossiation among friends including the likes of Blaze and Silver. 

Blaze was often on the scene but Silver was a special treat. 

He had been a mischevious little 14 year old hedgehog once. Now he was a mishevious little 24 year old hedgehog and to say that he didn't enjoy popping through the fabrics of time and space on a monthly basis would have been a lie. In truth, Silver was often lonely in his own time, a world that existed into the far future though no-one knew, for certain, how far into the future that was. Silver often teased that he knew which of his allies and friends would have children and even claimed that he knew their names and birthdays. Whether he was telling the truth or not, no-one bothered to find out. The future was an area that they agreed would not be touched by any of them save for Silver seeing as he lived there and only made the trips so as to ensure the future remained peaceful. Even Blaze opted to limit her visits though she was from an entirely alternate dimension altogether. 

The fact of the matter was that Silver had very few friends in the future and the only close friends he had lived in his past. It was a complicated set-up. He hoped that his vists weren't always taken as a sign of impending doom but he really did like to spend time with his friends as much as possible, especially seeing as he still felt a need to make up to Sonic what he had tried to do to him once in an erased timeline.

* * *

The only ones who had yet to arrive were the Chaotix who were trying to finish up their work as quickly as possible before leaving. Charmy was working out what to wear as Vector filed away some notes and photos and Espio went about typing up some information for later use.

"You know there was that trouble at the medical facility?" the chameleon then murmured quietly, seemingly out of the blue. Vector was the only one in the room to hear him and he nodded his scaly head.

"Yer mean the asylum? What about it?"

"I've just been connecting the dots," Espio went on, "The asylum is situated on an island north of the harbour. Lost one of its inmates recently. From which direction did the reports say our boat theif entered?" Vector paused in his filing and looked round, his reptilian eyes narrowing.

"North," he growled thoughtfully, "Yer reckon the boat theif is the same as the escaped madman?"

To that, Espio shrugged his shoulders.

"Just connecting the dots."

"As yer say," Vector grunted, closing a drawer and grabbing up his jacket, "Well keep that in mind. We gotta go meet up with the others, anyway, or we'll be late."

* * *

Blaze had made a campfire and Cream and Charmy were trying to roast marshmallows with Omega and Big which made for a comical scene for those watching. Rouge was getting a little fed up with her Team Dark teammates who found some way to take her wine from her and steer her away from any eggy foods. Tails was rocking a very sleepy Rosemary in his arms as Zooey was chatting away to Vanilla whereas Amy, on the other hand, was looking around for her significant other and caught sight of him walking off through the trees.

She sighed.

Sonic had tried so hard to ignore the news on Eggman, tried so hard to turn his back on getting involved, but Amy knew that there was no way the supersonic hedgehog could afford to be too ignorant. Shadow had visited him recently, that she was aware of, and something had been discussed that Sonic didn't like.

Thinking on her feet, Amy snatched up a cooling chili dog and hurried after him, following his path until she reached the other side of a copse of trees which lead right to the shore.

Sonic was standing on the cliff, staring out to sea and up at the blue and pink sky.

"Nice colours, eh, Amy?" he smiled, sensing her presence. He had learnt to identify each of his friends by their footfall and their scent and it was always his closest friends that he could identify best of all. Amy held out the chili dog like a peace offering as she walked towards him.

"Figured you might like something edible to chew on along with your thoughts," she said, hanging over the food and watching her boyfriend devour the whole thing.

He sighed in satisfaction and nodded. "You're right, that was good."

Amy stood next to him for a moment, not saying anything, simply staring at his strong profile in the glow of the sunset. It was all so very romantic, the child inside her said.

"Are you thinking about Eggman?" she chanced to ask.

To her surprise, Sonic's smile grew. 

"Now why would I want to think about that idiot on an evening like this?" he chuckled and shook his head, "Nah, I'm thinking about telling you something... but I don't know how."

"Tell me what?" Amy asked, her brow creasing slightly, "Something good?"

"I would like to think it's good."

The pink hedgehog curled her hands around Sonic's arm, holding it gently as he gazed up adoringly into his face.

"Then tell me," she murmured, hanging on to his every word.

Sonic continued to gaze out to sea, a faraway glaze in his eyes.

"I was just thinking," he finally began to say in a soft voice, "I remember a time when it was just Tails and I living out in the wild. I actually believed that it was just going to be him and me forever."

"You wouldn't have minded that."

"Maybe not. But just seeing all the guys tonight, back there... I guess it's made me realise how far we've come. A younger me wouldn't have believed that I would be making friends with a robot or a cat princess from another dimension or... or a hedgehog from the future, for crying out loud." 

Amy closed her eyes and leant her head on his shoulder, inhaling a lungful of his scent, a smell that comforted her and Tails equally.

"That goes to show you're special," she sighed, "You attract special people."

"Or very desperate people."

"Calling me 'desperate'?"

"No," Sonic teased, looking down at her and flashing a cheeky grin, "I think I'd call you 'determined'."

"In which case, I'll call you 'patient"," Amy fondly giggled.

"Patient?" Sonic chortled, "Please... It was hardly patience. I only seemed to treat it like some kind of game in my teenage years. I'd run, you'd follow. It was annoyingly fun, if a little terrifying."

"I already said I was sorry. Pre-teen hormones mixed with wild dreams can result in interesting choices, you know. What was a desperate romantic like me to do when faced with a handsome hero?"

"You were persistent, I'll give you that. I sometimes wondered if you'd give up on me."

"There were times I considered it," Amy admitted, her words cutting Sonic deeply with guilt, "But I know I was a little selfish, trying to make you slow down."

"It's good to slow down every once in a while," Sonic mused with some reluctance, "I had to really slow down to think all this through."

"Think what through?" Amy asked, hugging him tighter, "This whole deal with Eggman?"

"Kinda," Sonic shrugged, making Amy's head bob, "Last time he was away _this_ long, I went off on a holiday around the world."

"Yeah, I remember," Amy huffed in mock-annoyance, "I had to make up an imaginary boyfriend to make myself feel better."

"Yeah, well..." Sonic smiled awkwardly, "I've done that now. When we got rid of the last few rogue robots I had to really think about where I was going to go in life - for the first time."

"Like you had to give it _that_ much thought!" Amy laughed, pulling herself away to study the blue hedgehog with a fond scruitiny. Sonic looked at her in surprise. "Sonic the Hedgehog doesn't think about where he's going - he just takes off into the unknown, not knowing his destination until he gets there," Amy informed him in a matter-of-fact way, crossing her arms proudly.

Looking at one another in the light of the sunset, they both simultanously began to giggle like misbehaving school children.

"In that case," Sonic then went on, "instead of thinking about where I’m going, I suppose it's time to really think about who is coming with me, into the unknown, as you put it."

"Besides Tails, of course," Amy nodded, "The fabrics of reality would crumble if the duo of Sonic and Tails were forbidden."

Sonic nodded thoughtfully, his green eyes sparkling as he thought of his best friend.

"Tails is a fixed part of me," he admitted, "He and Knuckles seemed to just... I dunno... fill me out, I suppose. You know, like, Tails is smart, Knuckles is strong, I'm fast. Knuckles is a hothead, I'm a wind-up, Tails is the peace-keeper..."

"The perfect team," Amy sighed wistfully, if a little enviously. 

She had always been a trifle jealous of the loving bond Sonic had with Tails and the bond of companionable respect that he had with Knuckles. During the hero-ing teenage years, little Amy hadn't always thought that she had a firm role in Sonic's life other than being the crazy nut-job that followed him around.

"Yeah..." Sonic was saying quietly, "except there's always someone worriedly waiting for us with hot drinks and a sofa to crash on at the end of it all." His eyelids lowered and his pupils dilated as Sonic stared at her. "Always someone ready with back-up, some common sense and a hammer."

She blushed furiously. 

"All youngsters need a caring parent," she shrugged, pushing her pink quills from her face.

"How about a caring wife?"

Amy's head snapped up, her eyes as large as serving dishes, unable to comprehend what she had thought Sonic had just said.

"I said that I was thinking about who is coming with me into the futue, Amy Rose," Sonic continued, pulling a ring box out from behind him. "Do you think... maybe... you could put your running shoes back on and stay with me until the end of the line?" he asked, holding out the ring and asking the four words that Amy had dreamt of hearing.

* * *

It turned out that Sonic didn't even need to pull his trump card: the fact that he had ran several thousands of miles around the city to write out 'Will you marry me?" in squiggly writing when his progress was tracked which, he figured, he would just tell her about later.

When the newly engaged pair reemerged from the trees, Amy brandishing her recently bejewelled finger proudly before her, there were congratulations and celebrations all round. Of course, there was never any doubt in anyone's eyes that Amy was most likely to say 'yes' before Sonic had a chance of finishing his question.

With the night now coming in and the damp starting to come down with the dropping temperatures, everyone agreed to continue the party at Amy's house.

The engaged couple were walking hand in hand along the path at the back of the group, relishing the company of friends, when Sonic suddenly felt a cold chill run through him and he stopped, his ears catching the sound of movement in the forest beside the path and his nose detecting an unpleasent scent.

"Sonic?" Amy asked, tugging gently on his hand, "Are you okay? Sonic?"

Sonic didn't look at her.

He was gazing into the shadows of the trees where the shape of a man could be seen, leaning against a tree in a single shaft of bright moonlight. His eyes, shrouded by a pair of familiar looking spectacles, were fixed upon the blue hedgehog, unmoving.

For a reason that Sonic could not fathom, he felt as though he knew the slender man with the flame coloured goatee.

"...Who are you?" he asked, unintentionally tightening his hold on Amy's hand. Amy had followed Sonic's gaze and, catching sight of the creepy addition to the forest, clung to her fiancé fiercely.

"Yo, everything ok?" Knuckles suddenly asked, coming into view, "We moving or what?" Behind him, the others had stopped, one by one, and were turning to see what was going on.

"Sonic?" Amy gulped, "Who is that?"

Sonic tilted his head, confused. "That's..."

... ... ... 

Why did he feel as though he knew him? Something about the man told Sonic to be afraid but he couldn't imagine why. He certainly couldn't come up with any name to give the face.

... ... ... 

"Who are you?" he asked, unaware that his friends were slowly coming towards them, slightly worried at seeing Sonic's blank face and the mildly horrified faces of Amy and Knuckles.

The man, for a moment, did not speak until he opened his mouth and produced a raspy voice, deep in tone. 

"...You don't recognise me?" he asked slowly, his lips curling into a false smile.

Sonic's brain was telling him to run at the sound of his voice but he didn't know why. 

"Should I?" he asked back, unsure as to what to do.

"It was a while ago, I've been told," the man went on. Sonic glanced at Amy, staring fearfully back at him, then at an emotionless Knuckles and to the concerned faces of the rest of the group.

"...Look," Sonic sighed, turning back to the strange man that he didn't like, "don't mean to be rude but we're actually really busy. Did you need something?"

The reply was unexpected.

"...You're so grown up."

Sonic felt his left foot take a step back. 

"Pardon?" he swallowed, an abnormal fear rising up from his gut.

"Last time we met," the man said, "you were the size of my foot." As though to confirm this, he lifted his foot and wagged it back and forth.

"Well... you can't expect me to remember that," Sonic mumbled with a nervous chuckle.

One of the man's eyebrows, lifted a little higher. "I would have thought you would have remembered what I _did_."

Amy felt the hand tighten again.

"Sonic?" she whispered, now feeling more worried for him than for the strange man.

Sonic's face was set in a cemented frown.

"...What did you do?" he asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

The man lifted a bony hand to his chest, pretending to look affronted. 

"Can't even remember THAT?" he gasped, "Now that is shocking."

"You have a name?"

"Robotnik," he crooned, "Ira Robotnik."

Now everyone felt the same chill go through them.

Sonic had turned rigid at the sound of those three syllabals, his tongue turning to lead in his mouth. 

"Well, Mr... Robotnik..." he murmured, finding the words difficult to say, "I'm sorry; I don't know you."

"Shame," the man, Ira, sighed dejectedly, "I know _you_ very well." He then straightened and backed away into the darkness. "It's been nice seeing you again," he chuckled, "I'll be sure to get in touch."

Then he was gone, as though he had never been there at all, leaving Sonic to stare at where he was in a stupor.

A terrifying calm came over the group.

"I'll get a hold of GUN," Shadow murmured, moving away to privately make a phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While the original story on Fanfiction.net was written a while ago for Sonic and Eggman’s 25th, the revised and revisited version here on AO3 has been updated in lieu of their 29th!   
Crazy.  
Thanks for all the kudos! It helps to know there are some devoted readers out there.


	9. There’s Blood in the Water...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Answers are usually expected after such a personal encounter but in the place of answers only comes more and more questions. And Ira Robotnik is just about ready to give up the role of a side character.

It wasn't really a party, as such, back at Amy's but Rouge made sure to open up Amy's liquor cabinet (though Shadow seemed to take every drink off of her) and Vanilla was quick to root out something in the kitchen for them all to snack on.

Sonic was slumped at Amy's dining table, staring out the window as his friends settled down around him, whispering to one another as they tried easing the situation, though why it was tense not all of them were sure.

Tails had put Rosemary to bed on the sofa and when he arrived back in the dining room Shadow had placed a drink in front of Sonic and sat down to pick some brains.

"So who's Ira Robotnik?" Silver was the first to ask, hovering (literally) in the corner of the room.

Sonic had an elbow on the table, leaning his muzzle deeply into the palm of his paw as he gazed listlessly out the window at nothing. 

"...I have no idea," he said, his monotonous voice muffled by his glove.

"Everyone is saying you know him."

"I don't."

"According to the G.U.N. he's Eggman's brother," Rouge then said. She was sat at one end of the table with a small GUN laptop, organising the information that had come through after Shadow had made the call and given a precise description of the would-be creep. "There was a whole family of Robotniks," she continued, "Most of them have died in an asylum somewhere."

Vector immediately looked at Espio and Charmy, perched on a stool next to Cream, who had simultaneously twitched his antennae in their direction, remembering something about a loose inmate from an asylum.

"I wouldn't know," Sonic merely went on mumbling, lost in his own thoughts, oblivious to the fact that Tails was watching him closely, a intrigued look on his face.

"But this is someone from your past," Knuckles commented, stroking his own muzzle.

"From before Tails, even," Cream agreed, "Was Eggman the first Robotnik you met? When did you meet him?"

To everyone's surprise, Sonic didn't answer. He frowned as he lowered his hand, revealing that his lips had only slightly parted, as though he had begun to speak but had stopped.

"Sonic?" Amy, sitting beside him, prompted, also watching him closely.

Replacing the confusion was an almost vulnerable look as Sonic shook his head ever so slightly.

"...I...I can't remember," he whispered, not wanting to hear his own voice, it seemed. It certainly served to puzzle everyone else in the room further.

"What do you mean?" Zooey cautiously asked, sat beside Tails.

"I mean," Sonic replied, "I can't remember when I met Dr Ro- Eggman. No... No, he called himself Robotnik back then. It was ages before we started calling him Eggman."

"You knew Robotnik before you knew me," Tails said quietly. He became the first one to whom Sonic established eye contact with since reaching Amy's house.

"Yeah, I can remember fighting him alone once..." he spoke softly, "But I don't know when we first met. He's just... always been there."

"You remember meeting Tails?" Blaze asked and recieved a very firm nod from the blue hedgehog.

"Sure I can!" he almost smiled, "That's a set event."

"But Eggman's always been there...?" Blaze trailed off, her tail slowly swishing from side to side as she tried turning over the facts in her head.

"You would have thought that the first meeting of your arch nemesis would be a set event too," Shadow then murmured deeply, from his hiding place at the end of the table beside Rouge, "So the question is, where does this _Ira_ Robotnik come in?"

"Well, no-one can ask me because I have no answers," Sonic huffed, pushing his chair away from the table and getting to his feet in aggitation, striding over to the window to resume staring at nothing but his own dim reflection.

"But yer must have _some_," Vector gently pressed, accepting a cup of tea from Vanilla, "That guy said he knew yer and that yer knew him."

"Maybe he was lying," Sonic growled.

"Or maybe he wasn't." All eyes turned to Tails, including Sonic's. Tails was looking at the hedgehog with something akin to sympathy, "Maybe you did know each other back then but, whatever happened, your brain has just... I dunno... repressed it. Shock can do that, you know."

Shadow gave a shudder.

"Why would his brain erase his own memory?" he asked, curling his nose in a sneer.

"Not erase - repress," Tails corrected, "You know, store it somewhere, dormant, without you ever knowing about it. Shock can do that with extremely traumatic or stressful situations."

"You're saying that this guy might have done something to traumatise Sonic so much that, to protect him, Sonic's brain has literally tried to forget him so as not to traumatise him again?" Silver summarised, his golden eyes growing a little glassy.

"That's pretty much it."

A very lengthy and uncomfortable silence followed this.

"Erm... Well, on the bright side, congratulations!" Charmy suddenly announced, clapping his hands.

"Oh yes!" Cream agreed, joining in, "Congratualtions! We're so happy for your engagement!"

One by one, each friend (some a little more reluctantly) congratulated the newly promised couple.

Sonic seemed happier with the glaringly obvious change of topic and he looked over to smile at Amy, cheering her up. Amy had been deeply saddened that her fiancé had been given a bit of a shock on the night of his proposal but a brief grin from him soothed her instantly.

Gradually, the party guests dissipated, each returning to their own homes at some point in the evening. Zooey and Tails, with a gently breathing Rosemary on his shoulder, went off into the night together in one direction while Blaze and Silver went hand-in-hand in another.

"It's a big leap to say that the Ira Robotnik fella is the missing nutjob from the asylum and our boat thief," Vector was muttering as he left the house.

"The dots join up though," Espio had replied beside him. They had almost forgotten Charmy who had been saying goodbye to Cream. Cream was going to be staying the night and she gave the bee a tight hug before he ran off to catch up with the other Chaotix team members.

"Looks like a gorgeous night for a flight," Rouge commented, standing outside on the path with her husband. Shadow and Omega appeared as if from nowhere.

"Probably not a good idea," Shadow murmured, "It gets cold quickly at night in the autumn and you know how cold your wings get, Rouge." 

The bat and the echidna frowned at one another.

"Are you two alright?" Knuckles asked, glancing from the hedgehog to the robot.

"Why would we not be?" Shadow huffed, crossing his arms, "You've forgotten Sonic's sudden situation?"

"This has got nothing to do with Sonic - why are you acting so weird with Rouge?"

"**Our systems function perfectly well around Rouge**." Omega smoothy answered but he almost crumpled under the stoic gaze of the bat in question.

"Remember that you're awful at lying?" Rouge drawled, unimpressed.

Shadow was growing nervous but he had mastered how to hide emotions particually well over the years. 

"We're not acting weird, as you put it. Just... worked up," he explained and Omega whirred in agreement.

"**It is common for females to be more influenced, emotionally, by negative situations and we...**" Shadow glared at him. "**Correction, **_**I**_** was concerned for Rouge's wellbeing given the great worry on our minds." **

Knuckles wrinkled his nose and shook his head.

"Shouldn't it be Amy that you should be fussing, if that's the case? And how is taking wine, shoving food at Rouge and forbidding her from flying have anything to do with Sonic?"

For a moment, it seemed neither had an answer for Knuckles. Omega turned helplessly to Shadow and his red optics shone with guilt, on the verge of giving way.

"No..." Shadow warned. The robot, however, decided he couldn't continue with the secret any longer.

"**Congratulations!**" he chirruped.

"Omega!" Shadow gasped in genuine horror, "No!"

"What are you on about?" Rouge asked, slightly frightened by Shadow's reaction.

"**I ask forgiveness from you, Rouge,**" Omega explained, doing his very best not to look at the Ultimate Lifeform, "**Before you asked that I not, I scanned you**."

Rouge looked puzzled, tilting her head slightly. "You mean way back when we got our mission from the Commander?"

"**That is correct**."

"Omega..." Shadow swalllowed, preparing for the wrath of a hormonal woman heading his way, "...for the love of Maria, don't do this."

"Do what?" asked Knuckles, also worried about Shadow's uncharacterist response.

Rouge just looked downright lost. 

"So you scanned me, so what?" she scoffed, "What did you find out that's made you...?"

Then she stopped.

The pieces fell into place and she placed a hand over her mouth.

"Oh Chaos."

* * *

Due to his effort to keep a low profile, Eggman had limited the power of his current place of hiding to a strict minimum, concentrating on keeping the electricity flowing to his living quarters and one small laboratory.

The sliding double doors, therefore, _swished_ open as Ira came walking through, ignoring Eggman at his desk.

"Well?" Eggman asked politely, "How did it go?"

Ira stalked by and out through another door.

"Ira?" Eggman frowned, turning round to find that his brother had gone without a word of gloating.

Cubot was re-dusting an already dust-free photo on a shelf but he turned his head slightly, intrigued with possible new news to gossip about with Orbot. Eggman ignored the yellow bot and rose from his chair, hovering in the doorway that his brother had passed through, resting his gaze upon Ira's still form on a high-back chair in the corner. Ira was staring at the ceiling, a frown so heavy that it held his spectacles firmly in place.

"Do you need something strong to drink?" Eggman murmured, leaning against the doorframe.  
Ira paused for a second and then nodded.

Eggman recognised the look - a look that had once graced his own face many times after confronting a certain hedgehog. Not always rage or hatred, but rather confusion and... hunger.

"...You saw him then?" Eggman growled, reentering the room with some dark liquid in a whiskey glass. Ira took it from him wordlessly. "Quite a hedgehog, isn't he?" Eggman went on, leaning against the doorframe again. Ira shook his head.

"Have I really been gone that long?" he said quietly.

His older brother hummed. 

"Time flies," he agreed, "I can still remember him as a helpless little hoglet on the run. Then he learnt how to fight. Proved a right nuisance."

"So much potential time wasted in that asylum," Ira moaned, rubbing his face and taking a sip from the glass.

"Don't worry," Eggman 'soothed', "I was able to keep an eye on him as he grew up. Got stronger and stronger as every year passed. You know, his top speed is still unknown? I doubt he even has one. It wouldn't surprise me if he possessed the ability to run right out of existance with his speed if he put enough thought into it. Of course, he's too considerate to do that sort of thing..."

"How strong is he?" Ira interrupted, getting to his face and draining the glass in a gulp.

"Well, I hardly think he's reached his full potential but he's taken down everything I've thrown at him, one way or another," Eggman replied in surprise as his moping younger brother thrust the glass back into his hands.

Ira was now in work mode. You could tell by the sharp tone of his voice.

"By himself?" he asked.

"Sometimes," Eggman shrugged, "But, like I said, he's latched a few friends into his life and they've not helped in the slightest. In my opinion, I reckon Sonic's become too reliant on them and has grown lazy."

"I saw some of them. Project Shadow was there, as you said..."

"What were they doing?"

"Sonic... got engaged."

"What!?" Eggman cried, dropping the glass and not caring that it shattered at his feet. 

Cubot had been hovering round the bend, eavesdropping on the conversation with eagerness and he dropped his duster in synchronisation with his master. After the initial shock, Eggman's dark eyes glittered maliciously. 

"My word..." he smiled, a sickening mirth coming over him, "Never thought I'd see the day Sonic the Hedgehog slowed down for... Of course, it was Amy, wasn't it?"

Ira shrugged. "A pink hedgehog?"

"Amy Rose," Eggman nodded, "Which suggests that he hasn't slowed down at all. Amy wouldn't allow him to... Tell me, there was a young fox there and an echidna, yes?"

"...Yes."

"Mmm. I'll have to give you a run down on his allies. Each one possesses enough skill to hold their own against our weapons. Better that you're prepared should you cross paths with any of them."

Ira folded his lip back in a sneer. 

"I don't care about them," he snorted.

A dark gleam flitted over Eggman's face as he grew serious.

"Don't fall into the trap of ignoring them," he warned, "Trust me, you can get so caught up with Sonic that you forget about them and you may as well kiss your hard earned work goodbye once that happens."

Ira waved his hand nonchalantly.

"You can deal with them," he huffed, "The only reason I'm here at all is because of Sonic."

"Words I'm familiar with."

"Ivo," Ira mumbled, turning away, "let me make one thing clear: I escaped that prison because I realised that I'd left it too long. I happen to be dying."

There was a long silence.

Cubot was afraid of one of his circuits making too much noise.

"...What?" Eggman breathed, able to look both angry and worried at the same time.

"The Cursed Robotnik heart is giving out on me," Ira chuckled sadly, "I've hardly got a year before I'm gone. Just like Father and Uncle."

"Well," Eggman tried helplessly, "you've seen Sonic."

Ira shook his head slowly, gazing at his fingers. 

"I didn't just want to see him one last time," he told him, "I wanted to finish our work! If we can uncover the secret to how he survived in the womb, we might not die at all." Bright eyes stared through their specs. "We could live as immortals, Ivo! With all the time in the world to conquer the universe. And then... then on to other plans."

Eggman was getting confused.

"We never discussed other plans," he mumbled quietly.

Ira got up and walked over to him, moving him away from the door. 

"I thought about it," he admitted in a delighted whisper, "Once your research is complete, I move ahead with Project Eclipse."

"Project...what?"

Eggman never heard the answer as Ira delivered a hard punch into his brother's head, knocking Eggman flat on his back unconscious.

"Sorry, Ivo," Ira apologised sincerely, "This is for the best. I've spent the last 25 years thinking this through and I couldn't even begin explaining what's been going through my mind. Don't worry - you'll get your answers. And I'll get my life back."

Outside the room, Cubot silently slipped away, the sole witness to Ira's actions.


	10. ...and Sharks have come to Feed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Step 1 of out-doing your brother is to start by taking over his favourite toys... If only, Ira knew what he was messing with...

Watching out for Orbot and Cubot, Ira dragged the cumbersome body of his knocked out brother (which was a feat in itself!) from the living quarters and to his own personal 'study'.

Eggman had always been the brainbox scientist so it was Eggman that got the fancy laboratories and the high-tech machines and equipment.

That wasn't to say, however, that Ira went without.

While working for his brother on Christmas Isle, Ira had been given a lavish laboratory of his own, with minimal computers and a single glass container which could be stocked with whatever he wished. His part to play in the grand scheme of things was the secret agent, the fetcher, the carrier, the hit-man, of sorts. He had collected a mountain of books on his varying subjects, all stored neatly in his study where he had spent only a little of his time before being caught by the authorities and sent to rot away in an asylum prison.

Basically, it was the only part of the Robotnik factory that Ira had the authority to change the security code for and that was what Ira was pitching his safety on.

There was an old cracked sofa in his study, partly hidden under a hideous hand-made throw (a patchwork quilt experiment performed by his mother), and a small refridgerator that could do with being re-stocked after over 25 years, so he was confident that his brother's living conditions weren't awful.

It would be enough for him to concentrate on what he needed to do, anyway.

Especially once he finally got round to stocking his container...

Speaking of which...

Some rooting around in his brother's data files uncovered the correct start-up procedure for his robots that were being stored in the vaults. He wasn't sure how this was going to go down but it was a risk he would have to take so long as he remembered to tred carefully.

Ignoring all the other old robots, Ira made his way to the very end of the room, glancing at the piece of paper where he had scribbled the code that would open up those ominous doors.

Metal Sonic's body was right where Ira last remembered seeing him.

Ira Robotnik had a fantastic memory - almost frighteningly fantastic. This photographic memory had allowed him to escape the asylum in the first place and he was to be damned if he let it fail him now.

Booting up the computer nearby, Ira typed in the next few codes and the lengthy password. Then came the biological password. Being Eggman's brother, Ira had a higher chance of working his way past this bit than anyone else.

Sure enough, perplexed that the results were very similar to Eggman's, the comptuer asked for further clarification. Ira was able to plug in the right codewords to convince the computer that he was Dr Eggman and not Dr Eggman's younger brother.

The screen remained black save for a single line of green wording:

_'Start-up sequence initiated... Metal Sonic... Online._'

The tubes and wires around the metal husk gave a sigh as compressed air escaped from vents and electricity began to hum once more.

Yet the robotic body still looked void of life.

That was until the computer gave another bleep and more green lettering, badly broken, came typing on the screen:

'MetalSonic: "_**wHo arE yOu?"'**_

Ira had been holding his breath up until that moment whereby he let it out with a nervous smile.  
Metal Sonic, his brother's supposed 'best creation', was active and now talking to him!

Steeling his brief anxiety, Ira glanced warily at the lifeless robot shell before stooping over the keyboard. 

_"My name is Ira Robotnik. The brother of Ivo Robotnik, your Master,_" Ira typed.

There was a pause as the cursor on screen pulsated a little before:

"_**i dO noT aNsweR to thE liKeS oF yOu, stRanGEr.**_"

Ira took several breaths; this was his time to keep his cards to his chest and convince a murdering robot to work for him.

"_Your Master is unavailable_," he typed, his hands feeling sweaty beneath his gloves, "_I am acting in his behalf."_

_**"LEaVe Me iN peAce**_," Metal Sonic said via the screen and then repeated, "_**i dO noT aNsweR to thE liKeS oF yOu, stRanGEr**_."

Ira looked to the shell again. Still no sign of life. He wasn't sure if Metal would simply remain there, dead, or suddenly activate and gut him where he stood.

_"I have a task for you,_" he typed, "_One you will enjoy_." For a moment, Ira didn't think Metal was going to respond.

But he did.

**"i**_** aM METAL SONIC,**_" the green lettering declared, "_**i aM noT a sLave to Be cOmmANdeD at wiLL. i aM METAL SONIC. sUperIOR to AlL eGgmAn rOBots.**_"

_"I know_," Ira quickly typed, his frantic mind telling him that the last thing he wanted to do was insult a robot capable of killing him without moving a single circuit, "_My brother has told me about you. That is why I have come to you. I cannot trust any other robot to do this except you. Only the most superior of all Eggman robots can handle this task._"

He smiled. That was quite a bit of praise, he had thought. 

Metal seemed to notice this too.

_**"FlaTterY iS bEttEr eNjoYED whEn iT comeS fRom thE MouTh oF a hUmaN,**_" he had typed back. Then there was another pause before the rest of his statement came through: "_**i aM METAL SONIC. i dO noT beNd KNee to anY wHo trIEs to FlaTter Me**_."

Then Ira remembered what his brother had said about this particular robot.

It was time to play his trump card and drop the 'S' word.

"_Would you be more inclined to listen if I told you that I want you to find Sonic the Hedgehog?_"

Almost as though that had been a trigger word, the key code to unlocking Metal, the computers all around flared into a loud growling noise and the prone form of Metal Sonic gave a twitch and a shudder though there he still hung there limply.

"_**...yOu kNOw SONIC?"**_ the lettering asked.

Though it was only letters on a screen, Ira couldn't help but sense the high level of eagerness behind those words. Strange for an emotionless robot.

"_I certainly do_," Ira typed smugly, "_I've known him since he was a small hoglet. I understand you know him very well too?_"

This time, the wording didn't come straight away.

The noises of the computers did rise, however and, all of a sudden, the crimson red optics of Metal Sonic switched on and the robot body convulsed as systems booted up and the precious circuitry flared into life. Wrenching himself from his bonds, Metal Sonic threw himself forward and tore the wires from his limbs, standing free from his encasing. He whirred and clicked and groaned as he stood up straight, growing silent as his onlined optics focused on Ira Robotnik in person, already scanning him to confirm his biological link with his creator.

Ira had jumped back in alarm upon Metal's awakening.

"Does this mean you'll do it?" he asked out loud, not finding the courage to move now that the killer robot was fully active. 

The blue robotic hedgehog continued to stare at him, head tilting and the last remaining circuits clanking into place with sickening crunches.

To Ira's surprise, the computer gave another _bleep_ as more green words appeared on screen.

"_**i dO iT foR My OWn dEsirEs. NOt yoUrS,**_" Metal told him via the computer, still typing his messages rather than speaking to him.

"Are you incapable of talking out loud, Metal Sonic?" Ira asked, reasoning that his brother seemed to have neglected to give the hedgehog a mouth.

"_**oN thE cOnTRarY, hUmaN,**_" Metal typed on the screen while his body remained transfixed on the Robotnik in front of him, "_**oNLY SONIC hAs hearD My tRuE VOiCe. no oTheR hAs hAD thE pRIvilEge.**_"

"Sonic means a lot to you then?" He winced as the sharp claws of the robot curled into a fist.

"_**to sUbjuGAte hiM aNd hAve hiM RElinQUisH thE TitLe oF ONE TRUE SONIC to Me - tHat 'MEaNs a loT to Me'.**_"

"I can...assist in those ambitions," Ira told him, "But he must be here in order for me to do that." Metal's neck snapped and then straightened again, his optics having never left Ira's face.

"_**wHAt is it tHat yOu dEsirE oF hiM, hUmaN?**_" he asked.

"Ivo.. Doctor Eggman needs him for his research and I need him for my Project Eclipse. I... intend to turn him into my own Fountain of Immortality."

"_**dOCtoR EGGMAN wiShEs oNLy to comPleTE hiS reSEArcH aNd tHeN to eiTHer kiLL hiM or rObOTisizE hiM as My fUTuRE pArTnER." **_

"Would you be upset if Sonic didn't become your future partner?"

"_**so lOng as i am thE ONE TRUE SONIC, thE fATe oF My cOpy is oF no cONsEquEnce to Me." **_

"Excellent. Will you fetch him then?" 

Metal Sonic finally took his eyes off the man, glancing around quickly.

"_**...wHEre is EGGMAN?**_" he asked on screen. He didn't call him Master.

Ira now had to step very cautiously. 

"...He is busy." Trying not to shiver under the cold gaze of the robot, Ira held himself tall and proud. 

Metal, however, was not swayed.

"_**yOu hAVe hiM pRiSoNEr.**_" Had the robot a mouth, Metal would have smirked at that point - not that Ira would know.

"Not prisoner. Not my own brother," he hurriedly replied, "He's just been isolated so that he can concentrate on his research project."

Metal tested his feet now, slowly walking from one end of the small compartment to the other, keeping his head still as he stared at Ira. 

"_**aNd wHat is thE inTEnDed reSEArch?**_"

"Well," Ira swallowed, "I don't suppose you know how an unborn Sonic the Hedgehog survived a catastrophic Chaos disaster, do you?" Metal stopped his pacing, cocking his head and remaining quiet, not a single word appearing on screen. "Didn't think so," Ira sighed, slightly disappointed that they couldn't save a ton of time with answering that straight away, "Would you bring him to us?"

Metal Sonic flexed his claws again, letting out a low gutteral growl before firing his thrusters and blasting off through the base and out of sight.

On the screen appeared the words:

"_**i dO iT foR My OWn dEsirEs. NOt yoUrS." **_

Ira leant over and typed back:

"_You said - and I acknowledge and agree to that request."_


	11. Small Beginnings And Large Endings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emotional whiplash strikes whenever it chooses. Knuckles and Rouge may provide good news, but a spur of the moment date can lead to bad news just as quickly...

Rouge and Knuckles sat awkwardly side by side in the hallway, waiting their turn to see the doctor on, quite possibly, _THE_ most uncomfortable chairs.

Rouge was still livid with her two teammates for discovering her pregnancy before she did while Knuckles was still in self-denial, hoping that it was just Shadow and Omega playing a stupid prank.

Of course, Shadow didn't normally do pranks...

"Echidnas typically have one offspring at a time, right?"

Knuckles was startled out of his thoughts by his wife's anxious question. 

"Yes, usually," he quickly replied. "What about bats?"

"One. Usually. Twins are uncommon."

"Odds are in our favour then," Knuckles nodded, shuffling on his white plastic seat and watching nurses rush around heavily pregnant women who were being escorted to mid-wives.

"Wait..." Rouge suddenly gasped, "you said that your species hatch from eggs, don't you?"

Knuckles nodded again. 

"Tails called it mono... mono-something."

"Monotremes," Rouge murmured, as though quoting a text book. "Egg-laying mammal like a platypus."

"Except echidnas don't have duck beaks," Knuckles felt the need to add, not liking to be paired up with a platypus, of all animals. He then felt the vice like grip of Rouge's hand on his arm, squeezing the iron muscles underneath his pelt.

"Knuckles," she hissed, her teal eyes wide, "tell me straight, am I going to be laying an egg?"

"What?" The very thought almost made Knuckles splutter and laugh but he kept a serious disposition for Rouge's benefit. "No, you're not an echidna."

"But _you_ are."

"Only women echidnas produce eggs, Rouge."

"But I'm just saying," Rouge pressed, "does the fact that you're the father," she paused, "- which I assure you, you are - does it have any bearing on if I lay an egg in however many months time?"

Knuckles creased his brow and slowly shook his head. 

"Don't think so," he muttered.

The wrong thing to say.

"You don't _think_ so?" Rouge demanded, squeezing his arm again and allowing her talon claws to sink a little deeper.

"Well, do lady bats make the right materials to grow and lay an egg?" Knuckles asked hurriedly.

"Of course not," Rouge scoffed, perfectly aware that bats were mammals - the only species of flying mammal (not counting Tails), in fact, something she was immensely proud of.

"There you are," Knuckles assured her. "If _Shade_ ever decided to have children, she'd lay them as eggs first, whatever their species."

Rouge cracked her first smile. 

"Even if her children were, just for example, hedgehogs?"

"Yeah. Hedgehogs hatching from eggs," Knuckles grunted with a smile of his own. "Now there's something."

"But let's face it, what are the chances that Shade and Shadow will start getting romantic with one another? Shadow doesn't do romance."

"I know Shade is taken with hedgehogs but I think she was more interested in Sonic..."

Rouge gave a knowing chuckle. 

"Oh, every girl has given Sonic a good look at some point, believe me," she sighed with a fond smile. "Why'd you think Amy's so protective and trigger-happy with her hammer? Lucky girl..."

Knuckles' own smile slowly dropped off his face.

"_Every_ girl?" he repeated uncertainly.

"Mmm-hmmm," she sighed, a tad wistfully as she briefly stared into the middle-distance. "Those beautiful blue legs... Anyway, so, no egg?"

"No egg," Knuckles murmured, hanging his head.

"Even if it IS an echidna baby?"

"Even if."

A long pause.

"...You know I prefer red to blue, Knuckie. Stop panicking."

* * *

With a click, Amy put down the phone reciever.

"Well?" Tails asked, hovering nearby with eager eyes. 

"It's official," Amy announced, beaming away, "Knuckles is going to be a dad."

Tails, Sonic and Zooey all cheered. Rosemary cheered too although she didn't know why.

"That's our boy!" Sonic said, hopping up beside Tails and throwing an arm around his 18 year old best friend's shoulders. "Saving his species like a pro."

"_If_ Rouge has an echidna baby," Amy pointed out, coming into the front room with her drink and settling down on the sofa where her fiancé joined her.

"Do they not know?" Zooey asked, waiting for Tails to take a chair so she could perch on the arm, fully intending to end up in his lap by the end of the conversation. She carefully kicked foam balls across the carpet for Rosemary to chase after. 

Amy shook her head.

"The embryo is too small to tell just yet."

"We should celebrate," Tails decided. "We'll drop Rosemary off at daycare and go out somewhere."

"On a double date? You romantic, you," Zooey giggled, kissing the two tailed dog-fox on the side of his muzzle.

"Where did you have in mind?" asked Sonic.

Amy's eyes began to gleam. "How about...?"

"Ames," Sonic interrupted with a smile, "how many times have we been to Twinkle Park?"

"Uh, yeah, can I just say," Zooey piped up while Amy pouted like a child, "I've _never_ been to Twinkle Park?" 

Amy looked at her in delight.

"Cute couples get in free," she said, sitting up excitedly.

"Hey, _we're_ cute!" Zooey smiled with her, also sitting up and leaning over to her, ignoring Tails' discomfort. "Two hedgehogs and two foxes! We can mix and match with that."

"And get our pictures done at the photo booth!"

"A photo booth?"

"Oh they've got all sorts at Twinkle Park: a shopping outlet, funfair- Oh! You get a discount at the Sweethearts Diner if you've been in the Tunnel of Love and recieved a '_Be Mine_ ticket'."

"I _love_ a discount!" Zooey clapped her paws, looking from Tails to Sonic. "Please let me go!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. 

"Don't suppose Tails and I have any choice, do we?" he sighed.

"We could easily go by ourselves, if you like. We make just as cute a couple..."

"Fine," Tails relented, "we'll go."

* * *

Cream was smiling as Charmy dodged around the trees as they walked along the lane towards the rabbits' hosue.

"...So guess who it is that finds the old boat?" the bee was saying, flashing a proud smirk in her direction.

Cream flicked her long ears over her shoulders. 

"You?" she guessed.

"Yep! Espio was going on about... something... but _**I**_ found the boat."

"Looks like Vector and Espio will make a detective of you yet," Cream commented, moving her shopping basket further up her arm as she dug in her pockets to find a titbit to feed Cheese who was tugging at her fingers hungrily.

"You can start calling me Charmy Holmes," Charmy announced gradly, walking back on to the lane with his chest out and his head high, "Or Charmy Poirot. Or Charmy Marple!"

"Marple was a woman."

"Whatever. The point is I scored one for the Chaotix!"

"So," Cream continued as they reached the front door, "why aren't you out there being a detective right now?"

Charmy blinked at her then looked around, seeming to realise where he was for the first time.

"...Shoot! You distracted me!"

"_I_ distracted you?" Cream laughed. "For the entire day?"

Charmy's forlorn face was almost worthy of being fussed over.

"...Vector's going to kill me," he squeaked pathetically.

"I'm sure he won't," Cream assured him, patting his arms gently. "You may as well stick around for lunch. Mother's cooked something up and you can just say you were questioning us for clues."

Charmy's eyes lit up. 

"You're a good friend, you know that?"

The teenage rabbit rolled her chocolate eyes and opened the door, letting Cheese go flitting in before her.

"Nonsense," she dismissed airily. "You know the only reason I keep you around is because you help my garden."

Charmy followed her in and plonked himself down in a beanbag, counting on his fingers, "Helping the oldies at the Agency... helping you with your hobbies..."

"Did you really just call Vector and Espio old?" Cream laughed, putting down her basket in the kitchen. She was just about to call up to her mother when she noticed her friend's face. "What's the matter?" she asked.

Charmy's spark of mischief had dwindled. His eyes, normally so round and full of energy, were half-lidded and downcast.

"Do you think we should be helping Sonic?" he asked quietly.

Cream looked at him closely. His striped antenae were drooping behind him and his strong lacey wings, which looked so beautifully fragile and delicate, were hugged to his back.

"...Well," the rabbit murmured, thinking of something to say, "aren't you already helping him? I thought Vector was suspecting that creepy brother of Eggman's as the boat thief."

"Doesn't help us," Charmy shrugged. "Not unless we catch him."

"You _will_ catch him." Charmy looked up in surprise. Cream sounded full of conviction and determination. "You'll catch him, Charmy. I know you will."

"But we don't know anything about him!"

"That's not stopped the Chaotix Detective Agency before, has it?" Cream smiled warmly, "And besides, it's for Sonic."

"Yeah," Charmy nodded. "It's for Sonic."

* * *

"Where in the world _is _Sonic?" Amy huffed, tapping her foot and checking her watch for the umpteenth time in the past fifteen minutes.

"He said he would meet us here," Tails murmured, hiding his worry.

"Yeah, after running that lost Chao to the Chao Gardens," Amy nodded. "And how long does it take to do that?"

"Maybe he got distracted," Zooey suggested, wondering why she felt a sudden chill in the air. "Those Chao are adorable."

"Maybe," Amy sighed.

Right before heading out, the group had found a very frightened Chao wandering around aimlessly, squeaking and calling for help. It looked too young to be by itself and so far from a Colony so Sonic had suggested he run the little one to the nearest Chao Garden and then meet them at Twinkle Park.

That had been half an hour ago.

The run to the Chao Garden, for Sonic, wouldn't have lasted three minutes (he ran slower when he was carrying a Chao).

"...I've got a bad feeling," Tails swallowed. 

He was hoping that Sonic _was _distracted with all the Chao that seemed to naturally adore the blue speedster and hadn't been held up with rabid fans or discovering an old piece of Eggman tech that needed shutting down. What with the recent events, Tails wasn't sure if Sonic should be left alone for any given lengths of time. He brought up his communicator and pressed a few buttons.

"Sonic?" he spoke into the mouthpiece. "You there, Sonic? We're waiting. Chickened out, or something? You too frightened to come?"

Only static answered him.

"Sonic?" Tails tried again.

More static.

"Sonic, come in. Look, we've been waiting ages. Where are you?"

_Static_.

"Sonic!"

Static... then complete silence.

Another cold breeze blew through Station Square.

"We don't want to jump to conclusions..." Zooey gulped, aware that, in her heart, she could sense some form of disaster just as clearly as Amy and Tails could, though their personal bond with the blue hedgehog likely surpassed any kind of relationship she had ever known.

"I'll search for his communicator signal," Tails muttered, pressing buttons again. After an ominous _bleep_, the fox looked up. "...The Chao Garden."

* * *

Usually, the Chao Gardens were places of peace and calm, little drops of paradise, some called them. Yet upon arriving at the Chao Garden, peace and calm seemed to have disintegrated into fear and worry.

"The Chao are spooked," Zooey noticed, watching as groups of Chao huddled together in trees, behind rocks, under bushes... anywhere they could find space to hide. They watched the three visitors with wide, anxious eyes, none of them making a sound.

"Sonic!" Amy called, her voice echoing around and eliciting no reply. At the call, the Chao each squeaked nervously and some cried. "You're right," the pink hedgehog whimpered, "the Chao are really freaking out." 

She caught sight of the young one that they had found, crawling towards them with tears streaking down its face. He latched on to Amy's shoe and gave a heartbroken cry. 

"Hey, little guy..." Amy crooned, reaching down and scooping the little bundle up in her arms. "At least you managed to get here." She gazed down at the Chao and held it close to her chest protectively as the little creature squeaked and whimpered. "Where's Sonic?" she asked in a whisper. The Chao only gave another cry.

Zooey, meanwhile, had noticed that Tails had immediately gone off after arriving, following a signal, but had now begun to make his way back towards them, his face unreadble. He clutched something in his paws.

"Tails," Zooey began, "what...?" 

Tails held out his palm.

"...His communicator," he sniffed, tears welling up in his big blue eyes, "Sonic's missing."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not ShadowXShade Shipping ( unless you want to view it as a Crack!ship ). I just think they would end up being good friends had the Sonic Chronicles story line continued as they seem to have a lot in common and their personalities are similar too. Maybe not as close as Shadow is to Rouge and Omega but close enough.
> 
> It's more of a kindred spirits kind of deal.


	12. A Body Without A Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shadow and Shade have only a few minutes to briefly speculate on what might be going on behind the scenes before the aftermath of the latest issue forces an emergency group meeting.

A brown withered leaf finally released its hold on the branch and floated gently earthbound, dancing on the little breezes it managed to catch and rolling over and over, brushing the nose of Shade the Echidna as she took pause beneath its tree. She watched the leaf, cracked and void of life, as it gave another somersault and came to rest alongside its fallen brethren on the forest floor.

In a depressing sort of way, Shade felt a kinship with that leaf, sympathising with its place in life.

She had fallen from her tree many years ago, tearing herself from the life she knew, alienating from her tribe to follow a hedgehog she had barely known to a world she didn't belong in. 

That was what she had thought at the time, anyway. Things had improved since then, she supposed.

From being a captain in a whole clan of echidnas to suddenly being one of only two on the entire planet was a shift that had struck her deeply and had evoked a new respect for Knuckles for having lived as the last of his kind for so long. That thought hadn't even occured to her when she and a group of her warriors had infiltrated Angel Island and had kidnapped him along with the Master Emerald ten years ago. She had changed since then and had made peace with Knuckles since he all but saved her life during that time. He and Sonic had impressed her and she had vowed to follow them into whatever battle they faced.

She could sense, however, the age-old tension between Knuckles and herself, the blood-feud of their clans still present in their own veins though Shade had done her level best to override those territorial instincts.

Shadow had helped her enormously on that front.

He had confessed, in confidentiality to her, that he still felt territorial around Sonic and that basic animal instinct was something that they all had to deal with in some form or another. She barely knew Shadow but he had quickly deduced that Shade was finding it hard as one who originated from another time and who had been raised to believe one thing.

In many ways, Shadow and Shade were a lot alike and thus, they had bonded as friends.

The added perk that their names were practically identicle in their meanings wasn't picked up on immediately - at least, not by them.

"Out here by yourself?" Shadow's recognisable voice asked as the darker hedgehog came walking down the forest path. He had come looking for her.

"I need to be by myself sometimes," Shade replied, shrugging her shoulders and planting her foot over the leaf she had been watching. "I can think better."

Shadow couldn't argue with that. As he walked on, Shade walked with him.

"What have you been up to?" she asked. “Heard Eggman might be making a comeback. Bet you, Rouge and Omega are busy."

"And how did you find that out?"

"What you don't know can't hurt you, Shadow."

"On the contrary," Shadow contradicted with a grim face, "What you don't know can hurt you very much."

Shade glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

"...Now you're onto something completely different," she noted. "I know that look and I know what it means when your spikes do the thing; you're thinking about Sonic."

Shadow turned to her, puzzled.

"Do the thing?" he echoed, "What do you mean 'do the thing'?"

"Nothing," Shade laughed. "But you ARE talking about Sonic, aren't you? What's happened? Is it to do with that creep that turned up at Sonic and Amy's engagement get-together?" Shadow pressed his tongue against his lips.

"I'd be lying if I said I knew for sure," he admitted. "The truth is, I'm not sure what's going on."

Shade frowned, losing herself in thought. 

"Well," she said, "What do you know for certain?" 

She and Shadow were close to leaving the forest.

"Eggman is returning and he isn't alone," Shadow revealed. "There's some man with him who may or may not be his brother. Whatever it is they are planning, they're keeping it hush-hush. We've tried going to previous Eggman locations but haven't found out anything and Sonic seems to have shut his mouth about it. He claims he doesn't have a single piece of information about this second Robotnik and he seems pretty keen to let the whole thing drop." Shadow kicked a stone and watched it fly off into the foliage. "The thing that worries me is that this doesn't feel like something that can be dropped. Not easily, anyway. Whoever this Ira Robotnik is, he's something connected to Sonic's past."

"Well, that's opening Pandora's Box isn't it?"

Shadow glanced at her. "What?"

"Sonic's past," Shade repeated. "It's Pandora's box, right? I mean, have you ever asked Sonic about where he's come from?"

"Didn't need to know. It's none of my business."

"And he's never outrightly revealed it to you, right?"

"Should he have done?"

"I'm just saying," Shade shrugged, stopped just outside the copse of trees and taking in the view of the rolling hills in front of them. "Everyone seems to know everything about everyone. I know you were a laboratory creation and are made of alien DNA and goodness knows what else that, _somehow,_when combined, produced a hedgehog."

Shadow stared at her as she proudly rattled off all the information she had aquired over the years.

"And I know that Amy had a relatively 'ordinary' childhood except for her mother and the drama on one side of the family involving her cousin. Tails was orphaned and bullied until Sonic came and practically raised him. Rouge has bounced around on the other side of law during her 'street' days. Blaze is a princess from another dimension and is guardian of the Sol emeralds, whatever _those_ are. Vector was raised in a swamp and was the first crocodile in his family to move into civilisation. Or so he claims. Big grew up with a frog he raised from a tadpole. Some life. Silver is from the future, supposedly started as an ordinary hedgehog but was genetically enhanced at some point. Charmy comes from a big family which has its _own_ private monarchy according to some sources - not that Charmy knows anything. Omega was an Eggman robot, turned against his master. Gemerl too, modelled after our own Gizoids. Espio was found abandoned as an egg and raised in a dojo - I think. Or was there a clan of... well, whatever. Cream's dad died 16 years ago in a battle on some island before Cream was born. The Babylon Rogues are descended from aliens from another planet, _supposedly_. Knuckles has been sat in front of that rock for all his life and I can give you a full on history lesson about his kind..."

"Wait, what did you say?"

Shade paused and frowned at Shadow, puzzled.

"About what? Knuckles?"

"No," Shadow murmured. "About Cream..."

"What about her? She told me that she was raised only by her mother after her dad died. Thought you knew that." Shade then shrugged her shoulders. "Anyway, the point is, we seem to know plenty about each other but the only thing anyone seems to know about Sonic is that he's the fastest creature in the universe and has been going up against Eggman for years. Beyond that, no-one knows anything. Everyone has a theory of where he came from. Some say he's royalty! Some say he's a lab experiment. Some say he had two parents, one parent, no parent..."

Shadow, on the other hand, was only half listening.

He and Shade were walking along towards the village, taking the usual route they took when they walked and talked together in the evening to share their insecurities. Being a perceptive echidna, Shade was well aware that something had sparked Shadow's interest but she couldn't fathom what it was.

"A ring for your thoughts?" she asked quietly. The darker hedgehog gave a grunt.

"Just...doing some math," he replied in a low voice.

"Whatever makes you happy," Shade chuckled to herself, parking herself down on a bench and stretching her legs out in the moonlight.

Shadow's mind was awhirl with new information.

"Sixteen years ago..." he muttered, "Before Cream was born..." Shade cracked an eye open and watched her companion pace about in front of her. "Island...battle? Island battle?"

"That's what Vanilla told me," Shade nodded. "Poor woman. Can't be easy being a widowed mother. Speaking of mothers, I heard about Rouge and Knuckles' kid. Hope it's an echidna. No offense, but our species could do with a number boost..."

"Sixteen years ago..."

Shade gave in, sighing and sitting up. 

"Okay," she said. "Forget about the money, just tell me what you're thinking."

Shadow stopped pacing.

"I'm thinking," he began, "that I need to find out exactly how old Sonic was when he finally drove Eggman off South Island."

"Oh that's easy," Shade answered, taking Shadow by surprise, "He was 9."

"How-"

"Tails told me. Said that Sonic must have been by himself from about the age of six they reckon and he had only recently adopted Tails when there was a big showdown somewhere on South Island that Sonic had to dash off to sort out. He ran Eggman off the island that day, apparently."

"The battle of Robotropolis," Shadow breathed, several pieces falling into place, recalling what the elderly cat on South Island had said. He did the math in his head and everyone's ages checked out correctly. 

At Shade's inquisitive look Shadow explained, 

"So Sonic meets Tails, decides to take him on as his sidekick brother, later hears of Eggman's new city that he's built on top of _Mobo_tropolis to enslave the island's population, runs off to deal with it, big battle occurs in which Cream's father dies... Eggman abandons Robotropolis..."

"You should join the Chaotix," Shade smiled. "Cracking detective you'd make."

"Shadow!" a voice suddenly called. The area began to shine with a pale aquamarine light as an illuminated Silver the Hedgehog came floating down like an angelic messenger. "Shadow, you're wanted!"

"Oh yeah? By who?" Shadow growled. "The government again? Another alien species?"

Silver touched down and his worried face made Shadow hesitate to say anything else. 

"No, it's worse," the young futuristic hedgehog fretted, wringing his paws together. "You and Shade need to come as soon as possible. Sonic's missing!"

It took Shadow and Shade under a second to react.

"Flipping heck, Silver," Shadow cried, "you should have lead with that!"

* * *

Tails’ house was swarmed with bodies of varying colours, shapes and textures, everything from mammals and insects to reptiles and a very observent frog sat atop a very large cat.

"What's happened?" Shadow demanded, striding into the room with Shade and Silver on his heels.

"Sonic's gone," Zooey told him, explaining it yet again that evening to a new set of ears. "All that was left was his communicator."

She was acting as spokesperson because, over in the study chair, turned away from everyone, a small ball of yellow fur was cuddled into the tightest of balls while a red-eyed pink hedgehog stood dutifully at his side, stroking him with a shaking hand.

"So, what, is he just missing or... abducted?" Shade asked which, for some reason, seemed to hush everyone else into silence.

"A-Abducted... We think."

Rouge, only recently coming to terms with her unexpected pregnancy, perched on a table chair and leant back.

"Headquarters aren't going to like this much," she muttered, referring to GUN.

"To Dark Gaia's pit of hell about _them_!" Amy hissed from across the room.

"You can say that all you like but they've been getting paranoid about Eggman and if they hear that now Sonic's been snapped up, we're going to get it in the neck for not doing our job," Rouge answered calmly. "Whatever the heck our jobs were supposed to be! I sure adon't remember the Commander telling us to stalk Sonic."

"What I'd like to know," Shadow growled, darkening the mood of the room, "is who's brainbox idea it was to let Sonic wander off alone after the creepy event that happened during the barbecue." He hoped Amy didn’t think he was referring to the engagement.

"It wasn't anyone's idea - it was a simple there and back. Two seconds, tops!" Amy barked at him, feeling Tails' tense underneath her hand.

"Yeah?" Shadow rolled his eyes. "Amazing what can be done in two seconds." He stopped as he felt Shade's reprimanding touch on his arm, urging him to choose his words in a more tactful way.

"Who's going to know what to do in a two second window?" Silver, meanwhile, was jabbering on. "Eggman might be good but he ain't THAT good."

"Who says it IS Eggman?" Knuckles pointed out, hovering beside his wife. "We don't have any clue on what this other geezer can do."

"Fine. No _human_ can achieve anything in a two second window."

"Neither can most Mobians," said Espio, silently lurking in the corner, not realising that his tail was curling itself around the leg of the nearest armchair in his tension.

"The only ones that CAN do things in two seconds are either in this room or, you know, missing," Cream was saying, hugging Cheese to her chest protectively.

"Or working for Eggman."

All eyes strayed to Tails who had just spoken.

Blaze ran a hand through her fur. 

"I know it's the obvious choice," she said gently, "but we really don't have any hard evidence..."

"Metal took him."

Omega didn't mean to give such a violent robotic hiccup but he did so nonetheless and let out a very deep-throated hum. Even the others shifted nervously, wincing as painful memories of the pyschotic robot resurfaced.

"Metal?" Vector spoke, smacking his tongue as though the very word brought a metallic taste to his mouth, "Metal Sonic?"

"No, he means _my_ metal counterpart. Of course he means Metal Sonic," Knuckles huffed, folding his arms and moving closer to where Amy and Tails were still basking in one another's worry and misery. Charmy was sat on the window ledge, swinging his legs and he watched the echidna with interest.

"Reasoning for that, Tails?" asked Shadow, staring at the two-tailed fox.

Tails opened his mouth then shut it, trying to look at Shadow but only seeing a frowning version of his best friend's face. 

"...Trust me," he said, holding out his hand where Sonic's wrist communicator was still clutched, "it was Metal."

At that moment, Omega came forward, his heavy footfall making the walls shudder.

"..._**analysing evidence...**_" he announced, optics narrowing in on the device in Tails' possession. "**Evidence analysed. Communicator strap has been severed cleanly. Traces of metal alloy present."**

Espio tried walking forward but stumbled a little as he forgot to unfurl his tail from the chair. Having done so and hoping that no-one had seen him falter due to fousing on Tails, the chameleon cleared his throat. 

"You guys didn't happen to look around, did you?" he asked.

Tails had slunk away into a ball again.

"I think they were more keen to sound the alert," Zooey answered for him.

Vector stood up tall and clapped his hands. 

"Well, what better people to send on detective work than professional detectives. Espio? Charmy? Let's go boys."

"Are you serious?" Silver questioned uncertainly, an elbow resting on the front room window's ledge. "It's pitch black out there."

"That's why torches were invented," Vector retorted quite quickly. His stride from the room was plastered with new confidence, both proud of his status and eager to crack this case out of all other cases. He was already outside in a moment. "Oi, yer two comin'?" he called to the remaining members of his team, "While we're young?" 

Espio and Charmy had little say when Vector was in the right frame of mind and so obediently paid their farewells, vanishing into the night.

"I wonder how they define the term, 'professional'?" Rouge wondered to herself.


	13. Where IS Sonic?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Allies have known what it’s like to be down a ‘Sonic’ before and now they must do so again. The only thing is, it’s much harder to cope when there’s no closure so the hunt is on to firstly discover whether it’s time to mourn or not.

Rosemary was turning in her sleep, whinging and squeaking with every breath. Her 'father' watched over her. He wondered if, maybe, the little Seedian knew what was going on. Maybe she could sense the loss of her uncle. She _had_ been bizarrely quiet when Tails and Zooey had gone to retrieve her after Sonic's disappearance was discovered.

Tails gently stroked the child's soft, petal-like skin. He was very much in love with Zooey but there were times he wished Cosmo were here to give extra advice on what to do.

"Yeah, he'll be okay," Tails whispered to Rosemary and to himself, "He'll be okay. He's Uncle Sonic, isn't he?"

Rosemary yawned and her face softened. She looked so much like her mother...

* * *

"Rouge?" A large mittened hand, so very strong and yet so very gentle, carefully rested on the bat's shoulder. "Rouge, we should probably get going."

One by one, the Allies had gone their seperate ways, some hanging around longer to hear of any news and others deeming it wise to leave Tails' house which had somehow become a social hub for them all. 

Rouge was of the former group, hesitant to leave should there be a new development, but even she could see that cluttering up the front room at this time of night wasn't going to be of any use.

"Guess there's nothing we can do here, huh?" she asked, somehow hopeful that there might be a chance of being able to do something.

Amy was on her feet and she shook her head which caused her quills, having grown longer in her adult years, to rustle slightly.

"Not unless you know a way of getting Sonic back," she answered and, for the first time that evening, attempted a smile. "You get back home and rest, Rouge. Stressing won't help the baby."

A ghost of a grimace appeared on Rouge's face and she hurriedly attempted to hide her expression.

"...Look at who the parents are," she shrugged, "I think the baby's gonna be tough enough to handle this. You worry about yourself."

"And... you know," Knuckles added, nodding toward the stairs, "keep an eye on him." He was referring, of course, to Tails.

Amy was pressing her teeth into her lower lip but she nodded, hard. "...Yeah, I will."

"Don't worry about making a call to GUN," Shadow then said, appearing from the kitchen and looking at Rouge. “I'll handle it once I've heard back from the Chaotix."

"Thanks," Rouge sighed, grateful for Shadow's concern but slightly annoyed that he seemed to have something to do and she didn't.

"Okay," she finally said, "let's get back to Angel Island."

Knuckles still had a hand on her shoulder. "If you wanted to stay..."

Despite her foul mood (a pregnancy side-effect, she was sure), Rouge smiled. 

"I'm missing my jewels," she lied. “Anyway, I've got to get some beauty sleep before seeing the doctor tomorrow." The truth was, she was getting more and more emotional the more tired she got and the last thing a girl like Rouge wanted to do was break down in front of all those who knew her to be a brick wall when it came to sentimental emotions.

Whether Knuckles saw through this or not, no-one knew. He simply turned to the only other echidna in the room.

"What about you?" he asked Shade. "Where are you crashing tonight?"

Shade had a place to stay in the city but she'd had trouble settling ever since she bought it five years ago. Before then, she'd been sleeping in a cave in the Mystic Ruins and bunking on various sofas but even though she now had a fixed roof over her head, she was still adjusting.

"I'll head on back to my apartment," she decided, not fully happy with such a decision.

Cream had asked Zooey if she needed anyone to stay but Amy had assured her young friend that she would be staying for the night until tomorrow. 

After that, everyone had quietly left.

Then Tails had reemerged from upstairs, tactfully avoiding seeing the others off in favour of just wallowing in grief in his own personal way.

"Still asleep?" Zooey had asked, plumping a cushion on his chair for him to cuddle down into.

Tails nodded, almost jealous that Rosemary could close her eyes and escape what was going on for a few hours. He curled his tails around him into a golden yellow ball so that only his ears could be seen, a habit he had adopted as a result of being raised by a hedgehog.

"...Do... you want me to get you anything?" Zooey asked gently and was rewarded with a indistinguishable mumble. Her face forlorn, she quietly exited the room. "...I'll make us a hot drink."

In the kitchen, Amy was helping to wash up some mugs.

"I've never seen Tails like this," the young vixen admitted to her.

"...It's been a long time since _I _have," Amy replied honestly. "He's strong when he needs to be but, sometimes, it gets a little much."

To that, Zooey shook her head.

"...You don't have to pretend to be strong with me, either," she whispered.

She knew Amy had been doting on Sonic for over a decade, from way back when she was a naive little pre-teen with a _serious_ crush. While it may not have started as love (few children knew what romantic love felt like), it was an undeniable love now, something that had developed from a imaginative childhood, an admiration for brave heroics, and time to really get to know the hedgehog behind the handsome face. Certainly, for as long as Zooey had known the group - which wasn't very long - Sonic had been the constant face on the scene. Amy had probably grown used to his presence and had finally settled without the fear of losing him; she could relax in letting him go and trust that he would return.

It was the first time in a long time that she was unsure of that fact. It was the first time in a long time that she wasn't certain if her mate would return to her side. 

It all hit her in that moment and the tears that Zooey had known were there started to trickle down her furred muzzle. Now with a motherly wave washing over her, Zooey steered Amy to the front room to sit with Tails while she went about making the drinks.

The atmosphere of the room was cold even with the logs spitting away in the fireplace.

It was just the two of them: the planets closest to the sun. How cold the Solar System was without it.

"He'll come back." Tails had been the first to initiate conversation. "He's Sonic. He'll be okay."

"...I know," Amy had agreed. “But it's not his physical welfare I'm worried about."

Sonic had an extremely high pain threshold and, while the idea of torture wasn't a settling one, it was the lesser of two evils when compared to the idea of mental abuse. Nearly all of them had experienced physical torture in some way and had proven their resilience against it but mentally... 

Pain inflicted on the body could heal faster than pain inflicted on the mind and should the person behind Sonic's abduction, be he Eggman or otherwise, use emotional trauma to break Sonic down...

"Yeah," Tails whimpered.

* * *

Private Rocky Pawlett, a youthful leopard with plenty of life in him, stood to attention by the door inside the Commader's office, paws held behind his back and curiously watching as his commander's hold on his desk gripped tighter.

"I'm sorry - _what?_" he was saying in a voice of complete disblief, the phone in his hand wobbling against his ear. "How?" he then asked. 

Private Pawlett wasn't entirely certain on who the agent on the other end of the phone line was but he had a narrowed guess. He said nothing and only listened to the one-sided conversation.

"And there was _no_ warning at all? ... ... Where did this happen? ... ... Hmm, that makes a little more sense..." The Commander was now scribbling something down in his book on the desk, alternating between his pen and the computer mouse. "Well, from my experience and information," he was still saying, "I know that hedgehogs, as a rule, are tricky beasts to catch so I... Pardon? Oh, I apologise, Shadow... ... Yes, of course, I meant that hedgehogs are tricky _creatures_ to catch. That was insensitive of me."

Private Pawlett nodded in satisfaction; he had guessed it was either Agent Shadow or Agent Rouge. Agent E-123 Omega detested using phones.

"Hmm? ... ... I was just saying that hedgehogs are hard to catch and Sonic is one of the hardest. I found it odd that he was caught with such swiftness but if this took place at a Chao Garden then it stands to reason that, maybe, Sonic was more concerned for lateral damage and the safety of the Chao." The Commander had settled a little and was nodding. "...Exactly. Of course, there may have been the additional issue of the kidnapper itself. Eggman rarely uses his own hands unless his victim is incapacitated so I'd wager a robot was involved in some kind. ... ... But I assume there were no robotic remains at the scene? ... ... Shadow, it is no secret that, of all my agents, Team Dark has probably had more interactions with Eggman's assortment of robots than I'd be comfortable admitting. Are there any among them that could...? ... ... I know that was the _presumtion_ but we're going to have to conclude that Eggman _hasn't_ been sitting on his laurels for the past year being unproductive. ... ... Who knows? That rotton egg has more sleeves to hide his secrets that that of an octopus. Now, getting back on track, do you know of any of his robots that could have done this? ... ... Well, it's only Omega that I know of that doesn't have nightmares of Sonic, so what other robot...? ... What? ... ... Yes, this is a secure line. ... ... Oh really? ... ... Don't worry, I won't tell Omega that you told me that. It's strictly confidential. ... ... Yes ... ... As I was saying, are there any robots that could take on Sonic in this way?"

A brief frown appeared on the human's face. 

"Agent Shadow?" he repeated, clearly not having recieved an answer. He waited a second longer before, apparently, Shadow was speaking again. "...Yes? ... ... I'm sorry, repeat that? ... ... What?"

The pen fell from the Commander's fingers and his deep voice rose several octaves.

"Shadow, if you're pulling some kind of..." He quietened. "I see... ... Yes, of course. ... ... Apologies. I understand."

Snatching up a sticky note, he hurriedly wrote an encoded message before thrusting it in Private Pawlett's direction, holding the mouth reciever away from him slightly.

"Get on to Jackson," he mouthed as Pawlett took the note. "We need everything we've got on the Eggman weapon, '_Metal Sonic_'. Go."

Pawlett was gone.

"Have there been any other threats to any of the Allies? ... ... Very well, keep me updated."

With a push of a button, the conversation was cut off. 

The Commander sighed.

Though he placed great faith and confidence in Shadow's abilities, when it came to Eggman even _he_ knew that the one person you wanted on your side was Sonic. It had nothing to do with skill or firepower - it all came down to personal issues.

Eggman's attacks had always been known to change depending on the opposition who stood in his way. When it came to anyone else, the scientist was almost casual in his attack, striking smoothly and calculatingly but never with any real urgency and only striking enough to keep his opponents on their toes or incapacitated.

Bring Sonic into the fight and Eggman upped his game.

Suddenly, the doctor of science wasn't so lenient. Not so laid back. Not so relaxed.

Fights between he and Sonic were always personal and you could tell simply by the look in both combatant's eyes. Eggman could either revert to being even more precise and careful, tactical in his shots, or he could let loose with a deluge, his rage and frustration overriding anything in order to land a hit and score a point on his hated enemy.

If nothing else, having Sonic in the fight was more likely to draw attention away from other players.

Plus, the supersonic hedgehog was, arguably, the greatest improvisation master that ever walked the planet; instinct drove his feet where they needed to go.

The Chaotix had claimed that evidence at the scene pointed to the idea that it had been a one-on-one confrontation between Sonic and his attacker, Metal Sonic, as Shadow had hesitantly suggested. 

The Commander still tried to wrap his head around that.

Metal Sonic had almost become a myth, a horror story, and nothing more. The robotic copy of Sonic the Hedgehog was a force that few were willing to acknowledge as ever existing, given that he hadn't been heard of in many a long year. The newer GUN recruits whittled the stories of Metal Sonic down to being fairytails or hugely embelished in some way; _maybe_ Eggman had made a hedgehog robot before and _maybe_ it was very powerful... but it was no Angel of Death, as overly dramatic Mobians were prone to saying - so the very foolish had laughed.

The Commander was not so sure.

He, himself, had never laid eyes on a robotic hedgehog of any colour or size or shape... but he had read the reports, the notes left behind by his predecessor, Abraham Tower, and he had heard the _tiniest_ tremor in Shadow's voice and he had seen the ghost of fear that descended on any of the Sonic Allies when Metal Sonic was mentioned by name. There had to be something in that.

A heavy cloud darkened the Commander's face.

Eggman was a threat.

The G. U. N. was an organisation that terminated threats for the greater good of the planet. Perhaps they had left Eggman to wander too long. Perhaps it was time to consider really dealing with him. Perhaps... Well, perhaps it was time to consider if things had just gone too far.

And where did it stop?

The planet was already scarred and lives were already affected from Eggman's creations: his factories, his warships, his robots... How different life would be had one blue hedgehog not stood before the man and said 'no'.

The Commander leant back in his chair. How different _would_ life be?

No Sonic.

Without Sonic to drive Eggman so far, would Shadow have turned out the way he did?  
Would Shadow even be around? 

There would be no Knuckles - or not as they knew him.

None of Tails' inventions.

No Amy Rose on the scene.

Blaze would still be unaware of their existance, back in her own dimension.

What about Omega?

There were too many 'what-ifs' and not enough 'what-nows'. Questions without answers lead nowhere and the only question that the Commander really wanted to know was:

Where was Sonic?


	14. Two Men and a Hedgehog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s always the way. You go years without bumping into an old foe and then suddenly three of them turn up at the same time.

The cold hard ground underneath him felt as though it were churning back and forth, back and forth, back and forth...

Sonic briefly wondered if he were on a boat out on a rough sea. But he didn't remember being on a boat.

Then he realised that it wasn't the ground that was moving at all - it was only his spinning head, trying to get its bearings. The only thing he could hear, for the moment, was the sound of his own breathing and the pulsing of his blood in his ears, rhythmically beating along with the pounding of his head. He could feel the cold start to seep through his fur and he involuntarily shivvered, trying to establish a rough idea of where his hands and feet were in relation to the rest of his body as he fought back the nausea. 

Feeling as though he were composed entirely of stone, Sonic dragged one of his splayed arms towards him, limply manouvering it underneath his chest to gain some stability as he pushed up, grunting with exertion.

New sounds were able to be picked out though they sounded muffled and faraway; bleeps and whirrs and hums.

Laboratory noises.

Now with both hands, the blue hedgehog was able to lean on his forearms and hang his aching head down over his clasped gloved paws, evening his breaths and trying to coax his headache away as he felt each of his senses start to return.

When his sense of taste returned, it didn't take long for Sonic to register the bitter tang of blood in his mouth which, upon exploring with his tongue, was discovered to also coat the corners of his lips.

Half anticipating that he was going to meet with bright light, Sonic opened his eyes slowly, peering through the opening of his lids with anticipation.

To his surprise, and relief, the light was dim and wasn't too glaring on his eyes when he opened them fully to discover his whereabouts.

The floor was metal, that much Sonic had already suspected, but the cage he had found himself in was encased in, what appeared to be, glass.

Through the glass he could see flashing red and blue lights and growling computers but his attention, to begin with, was fixated entirely on the man stood at one of the desks, quietly watching him.

Sonic didn't even have to say anything.

"Morning," Eggman greeted, not looking as pleased or as gloating as the hedgehog had thought he would be.

"And there he is," Sonic murmured, shifting his knees up so that he could sit in a more dignified position. "Where have you been then?" he asked. "GUN's been getting their pants in a pinch wondering about you."

"And you weren't?"

"You know me, Egghead," Sonic chuckled, "I don't wear pants. I also consider you a big enough boy to take care of yourself." The laughter on Sonic's voice died away as Eggman stood, leant against the desk, staring at him with an unreadble expression. "So..." Sonic tried prompting, "How...have you been?"

Eggman shrugged his broad shoulders.

"Well, I've been doing great," he replied. "I've delivered my perfected mad scientist cackle so many times I've lost count, I've moped and sulked and cursed your name long into the night and, uh... Oh! I'd even started hallucinating you around the lair, taunting me and laughing which, of course, has made me even more insane. So, to summarise, I'm long overdue a booking in at that asylum that seems to have reservations for my entire family."

There wasn't a lot you could say to that so Sonic crossed his legs, put his hands in his lap and said the first thing that came to his head.

"That's nice."

Eggman hid the little smile that tried twisting his mouth and hurriedly turned his back to scribble on his clipboard. He could practically feel Sonic's inquisitive gaze boring over his shoulder, arching his neck to earn a peek.

"What you writing?" the hedgehog asked from inside his container, his voice sounding a little muffled and quiet because of the glass.

"Hmm? Oh, just, the basic stuff I already know to make way for the stuff that I don't know which I am very excited for," Eggman told him, almost admitting to himself that he had missed the speedster in a disturbingly odd kind of way.

Sonic glanced up at the ceiling of his prison. He then glanced to the left and to the right.

"...Doesn't look like your roboticiser."

"No, sorry about that," Eggman answered. “It's just a highly reinforced cage of sorts. 'Exhibit A' and all that."

Sonic wrinkled his little black nose. 

"I prefer 'Priority 1 Hedgehog'," he admitted honestly.

Dr Eggman gave him a fond smile. "Me too."

Sonic was considering on whether he should smile back, to brighten the mood a little, when he suddenly felt a great sense of danger, a sixth sense telling him that something was in the room with them.

From a dark corner, a pair of red optics suddenly onlined and Metal Sonic revealed himself, coming to stand beside his creator and glare upon his organic counterpart with contempt.

"...Look what the cat dragged in," Sonic smirked, climbing up on his feet. "Still the best looking robot I've ever seen and don't you go telling Omega I said that."

Now that the one who had been sent to retrieve him had made his appearance, Sonic realised it was time to talk business.

"So why now, Eggman?" he asked, keeping both scientist and robot in his line of vision. "You've left me alone all this time and I know your canon fodder badniks are all history so, what? Why bring the cheap knockoff back into play?" He could faintly hear the growl eminating from the robot hedgehog but he paid it no mind.

Eggman finished writing and let the clipboard fall from his fingers and onto his desk. He was quiet for a while, not establishing eye contact with the prisoner.

"...You know I would love to take full credit, don't you?" he muttered sadly. "The sad truth is: this wasn't my plan. You're not the only prisoner, hedgehog."

Though Sonic opened his mouth to utter some form of question, he was forced to shut once the doors opened and another figure, eerily familiar, walked through.

"Don't go calling yourself a prisoner," he said, without smiling. "You know you're not that." The smile that had been vacant while addressing his brother was revealed upon addressing the captive hedgehog. "Hello Sonic."

Sonic stared back at him.

This was the man who claimed knew him and, deep down, Sonic was accutely aware that he might be right. He found it difficult to speak to him the day before but now he found it practically impossible.

"You've locked me in here and forced me to work," Eggman was saying, 'kindly' diverting attention away from the hedgehog and back to him. "How am I_ not _a prisoner?"

"I'm not forcing you to do anything!" Ira sighed. "This was all your choice."

"On my terms, Ira. MY terms."

"These ARE your terms. This was what you wanted! I just got tired of all this secret tip-toeing around and neither of us are getting any younger. I couldn't afford to wait for you."

Eggman, impressively hiding his growing anger. 

"See, this was the problem," he bemoaned. "This was what got you caught - you were never patient!"

Ira folded his arms and grimaced. 

"I had to be fast because the prey was fast," he argued, "and now look where it's got us; we finally have our hands on the 'Miracle Child'." Ira clapped a hand on his brother's shoulder and spun him to stare at their captive. "After all these years..." he smiled. "...Do you know, he's quite forgotten me?"

Eggman's face had darkened as he and his brother studied Sonic as though he were nothing more than a zoo attraction.

"He was five years old," he pointed out.

"What about in Robotropolis?" Ira snapped. "The day I was caught and dragged away? _He_ was to be thanked for that. Doesn't remember that, though, does he?"

"He hardly saw you. Anyway, I don't think he remembers anything about his life before he met Tails. Stop being sour about this."

"He remembers _you_."

"To an extent - but I'm different." Eggman turned away from Ira and seated himself at a computer, holding his nose in the air proudly. "He's had to deal with me his entire life whereas you were only there for a part of it. You forget that he only saw you once in his entire childhood and that had only been briefly."

Ira, sneering, glanced at Sonic before turned to stare at Eggman. 

"...Who's Tails?" he asked calmly.

He actually jumped when a furious _BANG!_ was heard on the glass.

Both Eggman and his brother, startled, looked up to find that Sonic was crouched sinisterly against the glass, one fist pressed against the dome beside his thunderous face.

Metal hadn't shifted an inch, unfazed by his organic counterpart's aggression.

Dr Eggman closed his mouth and looked away. 

"...Seems Sonic would rather I not say," he murmured, typing away at his computer. Ira hadn't taken his eyes off the agitated hedgehog.

"You'll have it on file," he swallowed. He then straightened up and cleared his throat, composing himself. "Anyway," he announced, "there's the precious hedgehog - get to work. We've waited long enough." Turning on his heel, Ira Robotnik was gone, the doors closing behind him ominously.

The silence bore down on the occupants of the room, unbearably heavy.

Eggman knew Metal Sonic well enough that he wasn't going to be blabbing everything back to Ira as soon as their backs were turned, so he wasn't afraid of breaking the silence in order to achieve some form of conversation.

"...Ira Robotnik. My little brother," he said aloud, by way of explaining things. "Mama Robotnik loved him. He didn't have any expectations thrown on him so he was left alone to be spoiled. I always thought that what he really wanted was to be seen as a scientist too." He chuckled. "He didn't have the brains, though. He was... henchman status, really. Don't get me wrong, he was a truly evil boy. Wicked little brat, he was. But he never had the ingenuity, you know? He talked the talk but he never had the true Super Villain calling. Not Ira. Didn't stop him from trying. Hasn't stopped him from _still_ trying."

"Why don't I know him?"

Eggman stopped in mid-type, his middle finger hovering above the 'S' key. Sonic's fist had dropped back down and the hedgehog had slowly sunk to his knees, glaring at the door, at Eggman, at Metal...

"Trauma, probably," Eggman answered hesitantly. "It was Ira's job to hunt you down way back in the day. Took him five years after you were born and then, would you believe it, he lost you again for a further four." He resumed his ominous typing. "That was the last time you and he saw each other - when you were a nine year old ball of prickles."

Sonic shook his head. "But _why_ don't I know him?"

"Who's to say?"

"...What's this about, anyway?" the blue speedster suddenly asked with a frown. "What were you two going on about, 'miracle child' and hunting me down and all that? What happened to the Eggman Empire and its robotic armies? What happened to our old-fashioned game of 'good guy vs bad guy'?"

The scientist didn't answer him straight away. He sat, gazing impassively at his computer screen, typing and clicking and reading and typing and clicking and reading...

"You can't remember when we first met. Well, you wouldn't, would you?"

It wasn't just Sonic who turned his head in Eggman's direction - Metal turned too.

"Don't worry," Eggman 'assured' him, "there's a perfectly good reason for that. The popular story is that, one day, my endeavors caught your attention and you came to put a stop to my rampaging at the now famous site of Green Hill."

"That was a very long time ago," Sonic breathed, almost fondly. Eggman smirked a little.

"But you knew that we'd met before, didn't you?"

Sonic felt his words falter and all he could do was nod. "...But I don't know why."

"I told you - there's a perfectly good reason as to why," said Eggman, pushing himself away from the computer and sliding his chair over to the capsule. He leant forward, elbows resting on knees, chin planted in his hands, smile broadened on his face...

"The first time we met, face to face," he whispered, "you were only a few hours old."

The hedgehog shifted away slightly, unsure whether to believe his enemy or not. Eggman saw his uncertainty.

"It's true," he growled, "I heard your mother had gone into labour and, well, I wanted to be close by to..." He stopped himself, an evil shimmer lurking behind his glasses. 

Sonic bared his teeth a little, curling his hands into fists so tightly that his claws, hidden underneath his thick white gloves, punctured the fabric and dug into his soft paw pads.

"Do you understand what I mean when I ask 'why'?" he snarled. "I've asked it, like, three times now and I haven't had a straightforward answer for any of them!"

Eggman rolled his eyes.

"...Fine," he relented, "I'll start from the beginning..."


	15. Jules & Aleena’s Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The event that happened over 25 years ago, when the wild powers of chaos made a key decision that would change everything...

A flash of orange... of pink... a touch of grey-blue... a smattering of white cloud... Every sunset was a painting.

On a calm evening, it evoked peace and serenity.

This was not a calm evening.

Julius Hedgehog hissed as a thorn bush scratched his face but he paid it no further mind as he thundered on, beating the ground as he ran, desperately wishing that he could be faster. He could feel the vibrations as, somewhere far behind him, a hoard of robots were invading towards his village.

Entering the village, he called out to his neighbors to hide their families, to keep hidden, to make a run for their bomb shelters. They weren't prepared for an onslaught such as this.

He wound his way around the cottages until he made a bee-line for the cottage underneath the maple tree - his home.

His wife, radiant in the early stages of pregnancy, was waiting at the door, a shawl wrapped around her shoulders.

"Julius!" she cried as her husband barrelled through the door and slammed it shut behind him, already hurrying to put up blackouts in their windows and yanking the curtains closed.

"Don't worry, love, keep calm," he soothed, lighting candles and taking Aleena into his arms, moving her away towards the easy chair, trying to keep her as comfortable as possible. "I'm here," he told her gently, stroking her quills, "I've got you."

Aleena was terrified. Word had reached them that a legion of metal monstrocities had beseiged them, surrounding the village territory, and yet that had still left them no time to flee.

"...The babies..." Aleena gulped, holding her stomach protectively where her three unborn hoglets were safely growing. The embryos were still very small, hardly the size of a sunflower seed, she had been told.

They were fragile. She couldn't bear it if anything happened for her to miscarry.

"Just breathe," her husband continued to comfort her, "I won't let anyone put a finger on you."

"Who is it?" she asked, dreading the answer.

Jules face clouded. "It's a Robotnik."

Aleena felt her quills prickle. 

"Why haven't they all been caught?" she moaned, burying her face in Jules' fur.

The light blue hedgehog shrugged.

"The brothers are tricky," he reasoned. "One of them's a doctor, remember? And he's the one attacking."

The Robotnik family were a plague and Dr Ivo Robotnik was the most ferocious cancer cell of the whole lot.

"What do we do, Jules?" Aleena said, her voice quivering from nerves. She was grateful for Jules' strong presence as he held her although even she could tell that he was frightened.

"It's going to be okay," he told her. "But we have to get out of here."

Aleena reached into the folds of her shawl. When she drew her hand back, the area glowed with a mesmerising deep blue shine.

"They're here for the Chaos Emerald, aren't they?" she swallowed, her pupils dilating at the presence of her family heirloom.

"Can't imagine Dr Robotnik would be here about some forgotten monarchy," Jules hummed, touching the emerald gently. "It has to be the Chaos Emerald. We have to get it someplace safe." He looked up and moved to hide the emerald back in his wife's shawl. "If they've found a way of tracking the energy signature, then the only place we can try is Angel Island."

Aleena looked up in surprise. 

"You mean the floating isle?" she breathed. "But the echidnas are long gone. Their species died out many years ago. They're extinct."

"There must be _something_ guarding the Master Emerald up there," Jules argued quietly, trying to ignore the distant pounding of heavy feet upon the ground. "Even if there isn't, the Chaos Temple will shroud the energy from being detected and hardly anyone even knows Angel Island exists. The 7 Chaos Emeralds ought to be kept there anyway. It's the only safe place we've got."

Aleena gnawed her lip but nodded. They had to find a way to escape and get out with the emerald. If Robotnik got his hands on it...

Suddenly there was a clank of metal and the front door shattered, disintegrating into thousands of wood splinters.

"Jules!" Aleena screeched, jumping to her feet and sheperded away from the door by her husband.

Sat in a round, floating, metal contraption was a human with a wide moustache and twistedly repulsive black and red eyes: Dr Robotnik before he became the insane, delusional, Sonic-loathing Dr Eggman.

"Good evening," he greeted, his contraption - which would one day be called the Eggmobile - humming loudly. "It's late so I won't hassel you long. The emerald?"

Aleena played the part of the terrified housewife while Jules became the well-rehearsed country-bumpkin husband.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, his face awash with innocent terror.

"Don't play that game," Robotnik snarled. "I know it's here. Where is it?"

"We don't know what you mean! Please, sir, what is going on?"

"Ah," the scientist chuckled. "This old charade..." He had to admit, the acting was very good. "Very well," he shrugged, "I'll have my robots reduce your home to rubble, brick by brick, looking for that emerald."

Staying in character, Julius gave a bewildered, plea-ridden cry.

"No! Please!" he begged. "Please, sir, my wife...she's... She's..." Robotnik glanced over to the female hedgehog. She had one paw clutching at her shawl while the other was resting on her slightly swollen abdomen.

"Oh, I see," Robotnik smiled, almost affectionately. "I understand. Congratulations. First child?"

Jules trod carefully. 

"First litter," he nodded.

"Oh yes, of course. _Litter_," Robotnik grunted. "How many?"

"...Three," Aleena squeaked, before anyone else said anything. She could remember the doctor telling her that there were three inside her, growing together. She had been overjoyed.

"Triplets?" Robotnik beamed. "How marvellous! I'm sure you're both very proud." 

Jules moved closer to Aleena, positioning himself so that he was at the best angle to sweep his wife up and make a run for the back door if the danger grew too great.

"In which case," Robotnik went on, "it really doesn't have to go like this. Just hand over the emerald and I'll make sure you both can keep your brood."

Aleena gripped her husband by the arm.

"Get away!" Jules cried, still coming across as a frightened milksop. "We haven't got an emerald."

"No?" Robotnik grinned, bringing his craft to a gentle rest outside the door and stepping from it. "How ignorant do you think I am?" he asked, his sinister voice sighed. "I'm no fool. Your wife, Aleena, is the last descendent of the Royal Hedgehog line and you, Mr Julius, you come from a line equally as long of devoted Royal Knights, yes?"

Aleena could feel the Chaos Emerald s**tir**.

"More interestingly is the fact that you are both pure-bred hedgehogs. No cross-species marriages in your history at all. That's rare."

Aleena could sense the ene**rgy** bu**ild**ing.

"The point I'm making is that it wasn't very difficult to pinpoint you both down and discover that the tradition of having a Chaos Emerald in the keeping of the Royal Family is still going strong."

It was reacti**ng** to Al**eena**'s **emotions**.

"You have an emerald here. Now hand it over."

It **could** s**ens**e t**he danger**!

"...Aleena..." Jules growled from the corner of his mouth, his own quills tingling at the Chaos energy, "get out the house."

**It _stung_ against her palms!**

"I really wouldn't try that," Robotnik warned, folding his arms. "My forces have you surrounded and, being robots, they won't feel any remorse at shooting down an expectant mother."

Aleena's heartbeat was quickening and the Chaos En**er**g**y** wa**s** ri**s**i**ng**...

"You're a monster!" the young mother gasped, panic beginning to overwhelm her.

This wasn't good for her babies. Julies knew this. Aleena was working herself up into a state and it was now too risky, what with Robotnik, the children and the fact that she had a Chaos Emerald close to hand.

"...You won't touch my wife?" he asked, dropping the pretence now. "Nor will you harm my future children?" Robotnik sighed patiently, an estrained smile still on his face.

"I only want the Chaos Emerald. I have NO interest in you, your wife..." he gave a chuckle, "...or ANY of your unborn babies." He ran a hand through his moustache. "Hedgehogs are of NO interest to me."

The emerald's power was still growing. The negativity in the room was almost unbearable for the emerald to take. With the risk of three unborn lives in the balance, the fear of the mother and father were so strong that it was tainting the Chaos Emerald, feeding it unparallel amounts of strong panic-induced emotion.

"Julius..." Aleena whimpered, clutching at her husband. "No..."

Jules was torn. More than anything, he only wished to see that his wife was safe and that his future sons or daughters were going to be okay.

"...We would be betraying our ancestors and our legacy if we gave you the Emerald," he reasoned breathlessly, beginning to shake as he began to feel the Chaos Emerald's **feedback**. It was like a ticking time bomb - one that was ready to go off at the slightest rise of negative emotion. He had to stay calm.

"There won't _be_ a legacy if you deny me one more time," Robotnik pointed out, dropping his smile, "Your line will die with you. I can personally make sure of that."

Aleena gave a quiet gasp as the emerald began to shine, pulsing against her skin and burning her.

"...You can search the house but you won't find the emerald," Jules shouted, masking his wife's discomfort and putting on the brave face.

Robotnik cocked an eyebrow and peered round him. 

"...Because she has it," he cackled, pulling a gun from his jacket and pointing it in Aleena's direction.

Time shuddered to a standstill.

There was a bang but no-one knew if it was the gun in Robotnik's hand... or the detonation of the Chaos Emerald.

Like lava spewing forth from the crater of a volcano, the brilliant blue Chaos Emerald poured out its energy, fizzing away into nothing while in the grip of a screaming, pain-wracked pregnant woman.

"ALEENA!" Julius' voice sounded.

The world had deafened the occupants of the room, however. Background noise was silenced as if underwater while the Chaos Emerald, the glow of which bathed them all in a blue radiance, continued to unleash its full power against the unprotected individuals closest to it.

Robotnik was blinded.

The force of the explosion threw him back against his flying contraption whereupon he sat, limply, watching the scene before him with his mouth agog and a ringing in his ears.

Jules was sent hurling across the room, snapping the wooden mantlepiece from the fireplace clean off.

The walls blasted outwards, burying the robots that were waiting around on standby. The ceiling would have caved in on them had the explosive force of the Chaos Emerald not repelled it away.

The only thing that could be seen of Aleena was the engulphing blue light, surrounding her, smothering her, drowning her in its core.

Neither Robotnik or Jules could look at her for her very body had become a blazing white light, too hot, too powerful to look at without burning your eyes into permenant blindness.

The Emerald simply wasn't there anymore. It had dissolved into its own light, bombarding Aleena over and over again, seeking protection.

Seeking a host.

Aleena felt nothing but the burning energy flowing through her veins and down into her abdomen, searching, not for her... but for something far more precious.

In a matter of seconds, it was all over.

The blue light dissipated, the white energy faded into Aleena's body and everyone was able to open their eyes, just as the last remnants of the Chaos energy drained away.

Robotnik stared, dumbfounded.

Jules, responding through adrenaline and aching all over, sprinted across the room and swept his shell-shocked wife into his arms, dashing for the forest as quickly as he possibly could, cradling the weeping woman to his chest while his own tears began to cascade down his face.

Robotnik, still feeling the residue Chaos energy sting his skin, cautiously got up, his legs wobbling as he put his full body weight upon his craft, his eyes hurting him so much that he had to root around in his pocket for a pair of tinted glasses. With the glasses in place, he was able to see a little better.

"That was raw Chaos power," he stammered to himself. "_Raw_ Chaos power. How..." he looked around him at the devastation.

The maple tree had been disintegrated and any other trees were uprooted and split into pieces. The nearest buildings were crumbling into rubble while the occupants, having smartly fled the moment Robotnik had left them alone, were nowhere to be seen.

"How in the world am I still alive?" the scientist murmured. "We should be... I mean..."

He couldn't think straight.

His robots were fizzing and sparking, their circuits fried by the Chaos Energy output. He had never seen a Chaos Explosion on quite that large a magnitude. Any living thing ought to have been obliterated in a heartbeat. But they weren't.

"Unless..." Robotnik murmured and his eyes widenened. "...Unless the Chaos energy found an appropriate host vessel in time. But..."

He shook his head and checked his energy tracker. Apart from the residue Chaos Energy, it told him nothing about the Chaos Emerald itself. It was as though the emerald had been destroyed, its physical form just - gone!

Cursing, Robotnik scrambled back into his craft. It would take months, maybe years for the Chaos Emerald to reform itself.

But what of Aleena? What had happened to her?

"I don't know what the answer is going to be," Robotnik snarled to himself, "but whatever it is, it's resting with _her_. Dead or alive, it's inside Aleena."

* * *

"J...Ju-Julius...I..."

"Shh, shh, don't talk," Jules murmured. "Keep breathing."

"Th-The... the babies..." Aleena wept, curled up into a fetal position in her husband's arms, aware that her rigid spines were most likely hurting him.

"It's going to be okay, sweetheart," Jules gulped, not entirely believing it himself. "It's going to be okay. I'm going to find help."

Aleena gave another pained howl. 

"They... The babies..." she sobbed. "They'll be d...d-ead!"

"Aleena..." Jules said, giving way to his own tears. "No, I won't believe it. I'm finding you a doctor."

On and on he ran, calling for help, trying to find a settlement, a physician, anyone. All the while his wife continued to cry, mourning her loss.

"My babies are dead."

* * *

"They're alive!"

Jules and Aleena couldn't believe what had been said.

"What?" Jules breathed, daring to hope he had heard correctly.

"I'm detecting a heartbeat," the doctor confirmed, holding a stethoscope close to Aleena's stomach.

They had yet to invent very advanced scanners but the doctors of South Island and of Christmas Isle were very competent in their jobs and it was amazing what they could discover by just listening to a pregnant woman's tummy.

Aleena's face was still tear-stained and her eyes were still swollen.

"How many?" she asked, her voice hitching. Her heart was already broken, anticipating the news that the Chaos energy had completely destroyed her growing children.

The doctor, a handsome tan and white beagle dog, closed his eyes and concentrated hard. 

"...I'm picking up two," he revealed, still moving the stethoscope around.

While it was relieving news to hear that they still had two children, Aleena could not prevent fresh hot tears spilling from her eyes.

"...We lost one," she sobbed, gripping her distraught husband's hand.

"Aleena..." Jules breathed painfully, kissing his suffering wife, "...honey..."

"We lost one!" she went on to cry. “It's all my fault!"

"No... no, it's not," Jules adamantly denied, attempting to hold his own grief back. "It's Robotnik's fault. You are not to blame. Robotnik is the murderer, not you."

Aleena shook her head, resting her head back against the tear-soaked pillow. 

"...W-Which one?" she wondered out loud. "Which one... Which one died?"

Which one would she never get to know? Never get to hold in her arms? Never get to enjoy life?

The doctor had begun to frown, his stethoscope moving and changing positions and pressing against Aleena's fur with confidence.

"...I...I wouldn't mourn just yet, Mr and Mrs Hedgehog..." he said in a soft voice.

Hope flared up like a young flame on dry grass.

"What?" Jules whispered, wishing to dare once more.

The doctor stood back up, a smile on his face, giving a satisfied nod.

"...I've found the third heartbeat. All three are alive."


	16. Rogues And Rivalry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As news spread, it reaches the ears of old racing rivals while the Robotnik Brothers’ relationship begins to strain a little more.

In the town center of Soleanna, the hustling bustling highstreet was showing no sign of quietening. The mounted televisions in one shop window were colourful and provided welcome entertainment for those taking a short break during their morning shopping. Not that this morning's news was cheering anyone up:

"_...that world-renowned hero and lifetime protector of the planet, Sonic the Hedgehog, was reported missing as of yesterday evening..."_

"Yo, Jet!" Storm called from the teleshop window. "Got something for you."

Jet the Hawk was leisurely leaning against the wall in an alleyway, sipping a fruit smoothie as they waited for Wave to be done in the tech shop, flashing his beak at anyone that strolled past to admire his lavish plumage. Storm the Albatross was round the corner, watching all the televisons as they broadcasted the news.

Tossing the almost empty smoothie over his shoulder and scoring a hit as it landed in a dumpster, Jet came strutting over.

"What are you clucking about?" he began. "I don't care if some bird group has discovered a new nest site for some dumb..."

"-_ation Square Chao Garden at approximately 7:29pm. The Chaotix Detective Agency, members of the Sonic Alliance, have told media that there was little damage to the Chao Garden but that the Colony itself were distressed. This morning, the G.U.N. released an official statement."_

"The Chaotix?" Jet repeated, growing interested. "What's goin-..."

The screen changed to that of the G.U.N. Commander, solemnly stood at a podium as camera flashes were sounding off at every angle. At his side, hands clasped behind him and with a face of stone stood Shadow the Hedgehog, the leader of Team Dark.

"_We can confirm,"_ the human Commander said in a cool, deep voice, "_that at approximately 1900 hours, on the evening of October 30th, Sonic the Hedgehog was last heard from at Station Square. In the time between departing from his company and reaching the Station Square Chao Garden, contact was lost._"

Flash, flash, went the cameras.

Behind him, the G.U.N. logo waved and danced on its flag. Shadow remained ever motionless and, on the other side of the screen, Jet had also frozen, listening intently.

"_Though specific details are, as of yet, unknown to us, evidence suggests that Sonic the Hedgehog was, in fact, abducted._"

Around Jet and Storm, others that had stopped to watch and listen were gasping and murmuring to one another.

"_We have no reliable sources to suggest who or what was behind such an attack..." _

"Oh please," one human snorted. "Everyone's thinkin' it an' I'm sayin' it: this's got that lousy Eggman fella all over." Nods and grunts of agreement passed through the small gathering.

"_...-ure that the G.U.N. are working diligently along with the rest of the Sonic Allies to track down Sonic and bring whomever is responsible to justice."_

"Bah!" another voice, this one belonging to a different human, sounded. "Dunno why dey're bovverin'. GUN'll be more quicker t' 'bduct Sonic 'emselves. Fact, oi reck'ns dey're on'y bovverin' t' foind 'im so's dey's can lock 'im up in dem labs. Dat blacker 'n red 'edge'og burter be a-careful o' dem."

Those that could understand the rolling accent of the man were nodding and shaking their heads with mixed feelings.

"Not them," a well-dressed mouse contradicted. "The G.U.N. have always had our safety as their number 1 priority and Sonic the Hedgehog is a key to establishing such safety."

"Rot and mange, that!" snapped a sneering lizard. "I say let whoever took that rascal hedgehog keep him! He's a troublemaker, that one! GUN'll do us no harm in keeping him and every other hedgehog under wraps."

"Hey, now, yer can't say that!" shouted another voice. "Slander! Dirty talk! Won't have no scale-skin talking like that about our hedgehogs!"

"Dangerous animals, those spike heads. Lock 'em up!"

"How's about you remember that it were a couple o' 'edgepigs that saved your sorry tail from a fallin' Space Colony once."

"Oooh, an' that big ol' watery monster at Station Square. Remember that, Pete?"

"The Princess be mighty fond of Sonic, dontcha know? But I wouldn't trust that hoggie as far as I could throw him."

"Far as 'oo could throw 'im? Don't wager yer'll be a-throwin' a 'edgie wi'out one o' 'em sawin' yer 'ands off."

"See? Dangerous animals! That's what I said!"

"Well, if that's the mark of a dangerous animal, then go ahead and arrest every porcupine along with them, you crazy coot!"

"Naw, porc'pines're _soft_ nex' t' a spike-dog like'r 'edge'og."

"How many blinking porcupines have YOU met?"

As the onlookers went about chatting and arguing among themselves, Jet and Storm made a subtle exit.

"Sonic missing, eh?" Jet muttered, devoid of any amusement.

"That's what the TV said," Storm nodded. "There one moment. Gone the next. Poof."

"Trust _him_," Jet snorted. "When something's going to happen, always bet Sonic'll be there. Come on, let's go get details for ourselves. There's nothing worth stealing and there's no worthy competition round here anyway."

"Heh heh, yeah, Team Sonic are the only three that are fun to race," Storm chuckled, privately wishing he could race Knuckles again - just so he could pelt him off his stupid board.

Wave the Swallow came hurrying over the street. "Hey, guys, sorry that took so long. What did I..."

"Grab your stuff - we're leaving," Jet ordered, throwing his long, silky green head feathers back over his shoulder.

"Leaving?" Wave frowned and clacked her beak. "What d'you mean, 'leaving'? We just got here! What about that Soleanna circuit you wanted..."

"I said we're leaving!" Jet thundered. "We're checking in with Team Sonic instead."

A look of pleasent surprise appeared on Wave's face.

"Ah, that makes more sense now," she nodded. "Can't say I'm disappointed. I wonder how the little squirt's been doing..."

"Not well," Jet growled as the three of them marched off down the street. "If the news story is anything to believe, Team Sonic are minus a Sonic."

"You what?"

"It's getting around that someone, not pointing fingers, not naming names, has gone and helped himself to a whole portion of blue hedgehog."

"They'll have call themselves just 'Team', won't they?" Storm laughed loudly. "Can't be Team Sonic without a Sonic, you know? Just 'Team'."

Jet did not share in the jovial jest.

"You can cheer and celebrate all you like, numbskull," he snarled, "after you answer me this; how am I supposed to prove I'm better than Sonic... IF HE'S NOT HERE?"

Jet had a particularly loud shriek, one that would chill even the most fearsome of his fellow birds of prey, wild or otherwise. Though Storm was bigger, he visibly flinched against Jet's cry.

"I, uh... well, I didn't think... No, I didn't think of that," he stammered.

Jet relaxed, his green feathers settling back down into their original position. 

"Of course you didn't; you're an idiot, you're not supposed to think. Why'd you think I'm the leader of the Babylon Rogues?"

With a swish, Jet turned and strutted back down the street in the direction of their ship.

"...'Cause you've got sharp talons hidden away in your shoes and I don't," Storm huffed quietly to himself, following in a sulk.

* * *

"You know," Ira happened to mention as he casually perched his fourty-something year old backside on the edge of one of the many desks in the room, "you _can_ leave."

Eggman, busy staring at a blank computer screen and pretending to pay little attention to the abnormally long and lethal-looking syringe by his right hand, clicked on the mouse and started a game of solitaire.

"I'm comfortable where I am," he muttered, his cheek folding over his fist as he leant his left elbow beside the keyboard.

His brother crossed his arms. Despite being classed as adults, the men in the Robotnik family were prone to childish moments as Ira only proved too well.

"I only locked you in here while I arranged to have Sonic settled to make sure that you weren't going to turn against me the first chance you got," he said in defence. "This IS what you wanted, isn't it?"

"I wanted to do things my way," Eggman shrugged, not raising his voice in any way to suggest he was feeling sore.

"You ALWAYS got your way. What about ME?" Ira whined. Such a whine caused a traitorous smirk to form on Eggman's face.

"The typical little brother," he sighed, still oh-so-calm. "Wanted to tag along with what _I_ was doing and never dreaming up something for yourself."

"Ah, but look now!" Ira stood back up and his invisible peacock feathers were fluffed to their maximum as he gripped the lapels of his coat. "Unlike _you_, my plans for Sonic went further than just boring research. I plan to keep myself alive forever!"

Not bothering to inform him that his interest in Sonic actually DID go beyond research (as his old roboticiser would agree), Eggman let a puff of air out through his nostrils.

"And how do you plan to do this?" he asked rhetorically, effortlessly winning his card game and still refusing to raise his voice. "By my research. What if my research shows that you CAN'T keep yourself alive forever? What then? Those plans you had mapped out in your head are now useless. Rookie mistake, Ira; when it comes to Sonic, carefully laid out plans are null and void." Another game was started and Eggman's voice kept it's frighteningly calm, dignified tone. "With Sonic," he smiled, "they NEVER go to plan and you can write that down for the history books because I've learnt from a twenty-plus year firsthand experience."

Nature seemed to have written another law by which a sibling, when wishing to pick an argument and confronted with a passive rival, would intentionally attempt in riling up their opponent in order to gain a reaction.

"You're getting old." That was Ira's attempt. "Predictable. At least I caught him, didn't I?"

Eggman's finger, his cruel, clever finger, hovered over the mouse's button, a click away from winning his third game in a row.

"...Did you?" he smiled again.

Behind his specs, the unnaturally coloured eyes drew away from the computer and peered over the top to where the glass container was still positioned in pride of place and still ferociously watched over by Metal Sonic's statue-esque presence. The sole occupant was a blue ball of spines, his back turned to the rest of the room, folded into a tight fetal position, asleep. He hadn't really appreciated the story that Eggman had told him regarding his parents, people that Sonic considered to be legendary characters from an age-old tale, long forgotten.

"Look where he is," Ira huffed, preening himself once more.

Eggman looked.

"...Yes..." he noted and gave a disturbingly deep chuckle, "And he might have you right where he wants you."

Metal Sonic's head turned a fraction, a movement so small that no-one else noticed it. Ira certainly didn't, though his thoughts and attention were already on his next plan of action.

"We shall see about that," he decided, marching from the room and leaving the doors unlocked for Eggman to leave when he wanted.

Surprisingly, Eggman had been truthful in that instance; he was quite happy where he was and everything he needed was in this very room.


	17. Lightning Strikes Twice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More bad news comes knocking on the Allies’ door in the wake of some good news for the future of the Echidna species.

They hadn't long got back home.

Rouge sat in her chair, sipping tea and watching Knuckles as he ferreted about the place, fetching his wife an assortment of treats. _Peace-offerings_, she thought in her head. After all, it was always the guy's fault when these things happened, wasn't it?

Logic wouldn't explain why, but apparently it was.

They had gone for another test and the doctor seemed almost certain that Rouge was carrying a baby echidna. She had been expecting Knuckles to kick his heels and go skipping down the hallway and whistling like she saw people do on their way home from work on a Friday. 

Instead, he had kept up an extraordinary poker face and hadn't let slip the tiniest emotion.

Typical Knuckles. It was starting to make her nervous.

"You happy?" she asked quietly as Knuckles plumped her heart-shaped pillow and squashed it behind her back.

"Well," Knuckles admitted, "seeing as you live here as my married wife, I no longer have to worry about the Master Emerald being taken by you so... OW!"

Rouge had some sharp claws on her hands so when she slapped anything, there was always a 30% chance that you got scratched as well.

"Are you happy?" she repeated, cuddling herself back down. Knuckles rubbed his smarting bicep.

"What after being slapped?"

"Are you happy?" Rouge's tone of voice was serious so Knuckles bit his tongue and left his 'wound' alone.

"...Are _you_?"

The bat's teal eyes faltered and she stared into her tea. 

"...Truthfully?" she squeaked.

Knuckles said nothing in reply to that. He knew that when she was younger, Rouge had turned her nose up at the thought of having children and the thought of being a mother wasn't one that she even considered. Had this... 'accident'... not happened, Rouge would likely have remained child-less and Knuckles had accepted that, bottling down his whatever paternal feelings he may have had hidden deep inside. 

"...You know when you listen to a new song or eat something new for the first time and you kinda hate it? Then, after a while, you keep trying it and trying it until it... doesn't seem so bad?" Rouge sipped the tea again and then, to Knuckles' enormous relief, started to smile. "I guess I'm starting to think that the idea of a baby isn't so bad," she admitted. "Plus, I get to help out with preserving the echidna species so there's that. D'you think I'll get rewarded for that?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes with a smile and went into the hallway.

"...I think you definitely will," his voice spoke from the archway.

"Yeah?"

"Mm-hmm."

The red guardian returned with a small box, dumping it unceremoniously into Rouge's lap. The bat's eyes glittered excitedly as she drained her cup and tore through the ribbon like a predator with a carcass.

For someone so graceful, Knuckles had thought, she's certainly a carnivore when it comes to shiny things. Inside the box, you see, rested a ruby necklace set on a polished silver chain.

Rouge's eyes softened. 

"Knuckie!" she crooned. "You little red, grouchy, mean-faced brute, you!"

Knuckles twitched his nose. "...You're... welcome?"

Rouge had immediately put the necklace on and was now jutting out her chest to admire her new adornment. Her brief pleasure was short-lived as she then realised her previous question had been left unanswered.

"...So... _are_ you happy?"

Knuckles folded his mighty arms, arms that could snap a train in two with hands that could bend a steel pole into the shape of Perfect Chaos and yet were gentle enough to pluck a grape from a vine without crushing it.

"Yes," he answered. "Just so long as you are too."

The soon to be expanding family were interrupted, however, when the whole place gave a tremour. Knuckles' immediate thought was the Master Emerald but, then again, the vibrations were gone a moment later. It was as though a low-flying plane had just cruised over Angel Island and shaved the top of the shrine.

"What was that?" the echidna growled, dashing for the door with Rouge hot on his heels.

They made it outside just in time to see a fleet of large tank-like robots vanishing into the distance, heading straight for the mainland.

"...That doesn't bode well," Rouge muttered, flitting back into the house and sinking in front of her computer. Three clicks later, she had answers. "My radar identifies them as Eggman robots."

Go figure.

"So he's making his move, is he?" Knuckles snarled, punching his palm with his fist. "Wait until Sonic's out of the way and then - _wham_!"

"Deja vu, much? Makes you wonder what the intentions are..." Rouge swallowed.

Absent Sonic alone was bad enough but if the good doctor, not satsified with his current catch, had considered the hedgehog as simply an ingredient for something else and had sent his swot bots out on a hunt...

"Stay on the radar and keep an eye on them," Knuckles told her, "I'll bring Angel Island inland and go warn the others."

* * *

The menacing rumbles of the approaching robots had alerted Tails as well, poking his head from the top window and spying the dots in the sky.

"Zooey!" he had called. "Get down in the basement and stay safe! Look after Rosemary!"

Then he was gone.

* * *

Big the Cat's sensitive ears flattened as the first robot thundered overhead.

"That doesn't look like a plane to me," he pouted.

Shade, who had been watching him fish, narrowed her eyes. "Yeah and neither do the rest of them."

The sky literally darkened for a moment as the rest of the hoarde followed suit after the first.

Where Flickies were singing before, now they huddled on their branches, trembling.

* * *

Silver and Charmy were flying through the air, on their way to meet with Vector, when they were suddenly confronted with the notion that they weren't alone in the sky.

The silvery hedgehog glided gracefully to a stop in mid-air, turning elegently in his aura of aqua blue to glance behind.

"Uh-oh."

Charmy, grunting from the effort of slowing down which pulled painfully at his lace wings, managed to manouver his proportionately large body in a 180 turn to see what it was that had elicited such a negative response from his older companion.

"Woah."

The fleet of oncoming robots were threatening enough if you happened to be a lucky fella walking about on good old planet Mobius, but to those who oft found themselves cruising the Mobian atmosphere it was a downright sinister view.

It was testemont to Charmy's courage that he drew up alongside Silver, folded in his legs and cracked a smile that fell nicely into the 'panicking but I'm hiding it nicely' catagory.

"Busy skies today," he nervously chuckled.

Silver swept him under one arm and made a divebomb for the ground, just as the robots blasted over their heads. They were on the edge of an open plain, where the wild meadow met the first trees of the forest behind them. A stone's throw from the Mystic Ruins.

"Silver! Charmy!" Tails called, flitting through the trees, panting from his lengthy dash.

"What are _they_ here for?" Silver asked, a little concerned when the robots took it in turns to pause in the sky, standing upright and floating on their thrusters.

"I've no idea," Tails admitted, sending out an emergency signal beacon on his wrist device.

Shadow, on the other hand, had already popped up out of nowhere.

"Take 'em out here!" he growled, clenching a fist and mentally preparing a Chaos Spear. "Before they reach the city!"

The robots, having seemed to come to a silent agreement, turned on the spot and descended into the plain, their landings causing the ground to shake.

"Huh, seems they're on the same wavelength as you, Mr Ultimate," Charmy grunted, crouching into a fighting stance as their potential opponents turned in their direction and slowly started to advance towards the small party of four.

In the time it took for them to make their way over the meadow, the rest of the Sonic Allies had assembled in record time.

Tails supposed that, with Sonic no longer around, the level of urgency was now well into the red zone.

"Charmy," Vector tutted, whipping out a stun gun, "what did I say about wanderin' off and findin' trouble as soon as Espio and me turn our backs?"

Amy skidded to a halt with her hammer already primed and practically humming.

"Give us the 'Sit-Rep', Tails," she ordered, counting the number of potential punching bags in her head. There were about twenty of the Goliaths.

"We don't know what their targets are," Tails hurriedly explained. "So long as we keep them from civilisation, we can minimise the damage."

Knuckles seemed to materialise from nowhere in much the same fashion as Shadow had and had caught the tail-end of the sentence.

"Rouge isn't coming, is she?" Shadow immediately asked, not exactly looking at Knuckles for favour of keeping his steely gaze on his first chosen scrap of metal.

As everyone ran to confront the threat, Knuckles dashed by him.

"Left her on Angel Island."

* * *

Perhaps it was because Sonic was missing or because they had spent too much time with him, but some of the Allies (certainly not all ) found that making conversation in battle was a good way of annoying your enemies and calming yourself down.

Of course, this wasn't exactly encouraged when the threat was too extreme. You had to be sensilbe, after all.

"Heard you went in for another scan today," Amy called as she ducked under a swinging fist and buried the head of her hammer into the ankle of the same robot. "What was the result?"

Her addressee was Knuckles, of course.

The echidna had ripped off the plating of one of the robot's arms and had used it as a frisbee to skewer the optic of another robot.

"Good news, Shade!" he called down to Shade, who was working on toppling the robot. "It's a puggle."

Shade looked mighty pleased. "Thank Albion."

"Thank what?" Vector asked.

"Never mind."

"What the heck is a _puggle_?" Silver's confused voice sounded from the sky, levitating a severed servo above his own victim quite sadistically. "Rouge cheat on you with a dog or something?"

The servo crashed down on to the head of the robot as E-123 Omega, the mecha with the strongest grudge against any Eggman robot, shot a plasma beam through the bot's chest compartment. His task done, he stood beside the smoking carcass and chose that moment to quickly Google(c) Silver's question.

"_**Accessing file**_**... File:EchidnasPuggle. Echidna offspring, otherwise known as puggles, hatch from their egg several days after the egg has been lain.**"

Blaze was nimbly leaping from robot to robot, torching and scalding metal where she could, but she took a moment's breather, clinging on to Omega's shoulder to smile. 

"Baby echidnas are called _Puggles?_"

"Alongside hoglets," Cream laughed, drop-kicking a robot that thought it wasn't completely out of the running yet, "that has to be one of the..." She paused to hurl an enthustiastic Cheese at a drone that had emerged from another robot, "...cutest names given to any baby."

"Yo, watch it!"

Down came anotherr robot servo. Omega and Blaze only just leapt out of the way.

"Sorry," Silver apologised sheepishly, "should have given you a better heads up." 

Blaze gave her significant other a look that promised that he'd be paying for his mistakes later.

"Anyway," Amy went on, still talking to Knuckles and still dealing damage to robot ankles, "congratulations! Boy or girl?"

"We don't know, the baby's too small," Knuckles replied, anchoring his fist into the back of a robot to use as purchase for climbing up towards the head. "The only way they knew it wasn't a bat was the fact that it had no wings."

"I suppose that _would_ be a bit of a giveaway."

Espio had to resort to using his tongue as a whip to zip out of the way in a hurry as another rain of laser fire came at him. To his annoyance, his slightly heightened emotions were causing him to turn pinkishly red - not helpful when he would rather be green to match the meadow.

"Always the way," he complained, dodging a robot foot that attempted to crush him. "When you actually _need_ Sonic..."

"Who says we need him?" Shadow protested, practically demolishing a robot as he had seen construction workers demolish skycrapers, "I can take a fleet of robots with my eyes closed."

"No-one here is questioning your abilities, Shadow." That had been Blaze, flashing by with a wave of heat radiating in her wake.

"I was merely referring to the fact that Sonic provides a welcome diversion in some instances," Espio explained, holding onto the foot of a robot and lugging a convoy of shuriken stars up into the unprotected chest cavity underneath the metal plating with frightening precision. "These are donkeys and he's the carrot."

Cream, no longer the fragile creature she once had been considered as by some, executed an impressive backflip and landed with the skill of a gymnast into the general area.

"That's because these are Eggman robots," she told them. "They've all got built-in programming to automatically target Sonic unless otherwise ordered not to. It's called an Order Override, or something. And if their job is for something completely different, there's the, oh what's it called...? I think it's called the 'Priority 1 Override'. Yeah, if they bump into Sonic and he's in a position to be caught, the 'Priority 1 Override' kicks in and they'll go for him. Even if they're just, like, scout drones." Espio and Shadow stared at her, distracted from the battle for a fleeting moment. She shrugged and smiled awkwardly. "Tails told me."

There was a yell and a crash as a 24 year old hedgehog fell like a hailstone behind them, imprinting the ground in spectacular fashion.

"Newsflash, fellas," he moaned, unsure if he was looking at one robot or five as he poked his silvery head from the hole he had created. "If you really are looking for him, Sonic isn't here. Did your boss not give you the memo?"

"If they're not here for Sonic," Shadow snarled, taking off a robot's head with a jerk of his left arm, "then what ARE they here for?"

"Suicidal, maybe?" Knuckles suggested as he popped up from Shadow's dead robot, an exact imitation of a scene from _Alien_, "What better way to go out then with a fist through your rusting CPU..."

Amy, having recently freed herself from a vice-like hold and repaying the favour with an exceptionally hard blow to the robot's temple, dusted herself down and stretched her back painfully.

"...I can think of a few better ways, if I'm honest," she commented to herself, her aching joints protesting loudly and rejoicing gleefully when discovering that only one robot remained.

"Heads' up, boys!" With a final blow, Vector ensured that the one robot remaining was sent down in a shower of metal shards. Blaze had to jump out of the way yet again.

"Are people incapable of giving us just a few more seconds before sending a mammoth's weight of robot on top of us?" she hissed, wagging her tail in aggitation.

Peace finally returned to the countryside.

The field was littered with robot corpses, some fairly intact but most completely obliterated, so disfigured that even Eggman would have a hard time identifying them back at his robot morgue.

With a possible catastrophe averted and their work successfully completed, the Sonic Allies, minus Sonic himself, took a few moments to regain breath, sitting either on their fallen victims or beside them on the grass, giving one another thumbs up and performing instinctual head counts.

Knuckles cracked his namesakes and rolled his shoulders, looking over the scene with a serious disposition. Amy had returned her hammer to wherever it was she kept it (some argued hammer-space, some argued a TARDIS-like bag) and came to stand beside him.

After a moment, both felt the same misgiving unease; there was something wrong with the scene before them.

"Tails?" Knuckles murmured into his communicator, amethyst eyes combing the area for any sign of their twin-tailed friend, "Yo, Tails, where are you?"

No answer.

A river of ice seemed to cascade down Knuckles' spine.

"No, don't you dare," he heard Amy breathe.

Emotionally numbed, the Master Emerald guardian silently turned his head in the hedgehog's direction.

She wasn't even looking at him.

Her eyes, wide and betraying her premonition, were fixed solely on nothing, her irises pulsing with her fluctuating emotions.

"Don't you dare tell me what I think you're gonna tell me," she added to her previous breath.

Heightened negative emotions travelled far and wide on Mobius. Like sharks drawn to bloodied water, so the Sonic Allies were quick to trace the scent of trajedy.

"What's happening?" Blaze was the first to ask. Amy seemed to have solidified into rock where she stood so it was up to Knuckles to deliver the bad news.

"Tails," he announced in a lead-lined voice, "isn't answering his comms."

Somewhere, high up in a tree, a courageous young Flicky chanced a second to let out a sharp trill though that was not enough to break the noiseless horror that had taken over the - previously thought - 'victorious' group.

The first to kickstart his muscles was Shadow, whereupon he turned away and buried his face into his rigid hand.

"...You've got to be kidding me," he snarled.

"Wish I was," Knuckles muttered back, hiding his own face so that no-one could see his mounting distress. It took everyone's effort not to jump in alarm when Knuckles' wrist suddenly spoke.

"_You fellas there?_"

It was not Tails' voice.

"What is it, Rouge?" Knuckles asked, masking his sigh of disappointment and answering his comms.

"_Been monitoring the robots,_" she replied, also masking the fact that she was sourly put-out when she had coined onto the fact that Knuckles had purposefully left her out of a fight. "_One took off early and is making headway for the Abandoned Isles."_

Charmy and Cream immediately went about counting the robot remains and finding that, true to Rouge's word, there were only 19 corpses, not 20.

Silver's ears perked.

"Abandoned Isles?" he repeated with a frown. "They're thirty feet under sea level in my time. You're telling me Eggman's hiding out there?"

"Sonic was born there." It was the first time that Amy had spoken since the latest piece of misfortune had struck them, "Guess Eggman comes from there too."

"_The Commander did say humans were sentimental creatures of habit,_" Rouge was starting to say but was quick to shut up once Shadow reached his tipping point.

"How_ flaming_ hard is it to keep a hold of our own TEAMMATES!?" he bellowed into the air.

The courageous Flicky was now the very cowardly Flicky and took off in a flurry of pale blue feathers.

"First Sonic now Tails..." the Ultimate Lifeform went about growling, pacing up and down. He stopped and shot a warning glare toward Amy and Knuckles. "You better watch it," he slowly told them. "Doesn't take a wise old hermit to predict that the next one to go is one of you two."

There was no exchange of worried looks, much to the admiration of some of the Allies.

"That's a little dramatic, isn't it?" Amy hurriedly replied. "We don't know who's pulling these strings here. It could be that other Robotnik guy who, can I point out, won't know either Knuckles or myself."

"It struck me he didn't know Tails either but guess who's just been declared missing?"

"Not Froggy this time," Big commented from somewhere in the back. His participation in the fight had been minimnal but strangely effective, canonballing from one robot to another.

"_I'm hearing a lot of loud voices arguing with each other but not a lot of action," _Rouge's voice sounded. "_If you're thinking that Amy and Knuckles are the next targets, Shadow, then you better put your tail in gear and get to the bottom of this. I refuse to be a single mother!"_

"Love you too, dear," Knuckles sighed, not daring to roll his eyes for fear that Rouge had developed the ability to see through the communication signal and catch him out.

"Have yer got an idea on which island the bot was headin'?" Vector asked to which Rouge replied,

"_The signal is hazy but I'll try working on it._" She was then back to addressing her best friend. "_Shadow, I'm serious,_" she threateningly purred. "_Pad my husband up in bubblewrap if you must._"

Unlike Knuckles, Shadow _did_ roll his eyes, "Copy that."

Cream, with Cheese on her shoulder, hugged herself miserably.

"I'll head over to the Mystic Ruins," she said softly, hardly heard by those too far away from her. "Poor Zooey will need to be told."

With a comforting nod from Charmy, Cream was away, her youthful legs gaining her impressive speed from a decade of experience.

"And the rest of us?" Blaze prompted. "We need a plan of action."

"I suggest splitting up," Espio answered her. "We'll draw less attention to ourselves while also providing back up should anyone else get taken."

"In any case," Silver nodded, "our destination is the Abandoned Isles. We just need to figure out which one."

"We can get on that, right Vector?" Charmy decided, quite forcefully, spurred on by the fact that he wanted to be doing something like Cream. "Digging up the dirt is what we do best!" The proud smile from the older crocodile was something that the bee had begun to live for.

"Straight from the croc's mouth," Vector nodded. "Atta boy, Charmy."

Omega appraoched them.

"**The GUN database will provide some information**," he bleeped. "**I shall offer my assistance.**" Of course, where Omega went, Shadow was likely to follow - but not without snapping a finger at the Master Emerald Guardian first.

"Knuckles," he barked, "you're with me."

Knuckles blinked, looking from Shadow to Shade in the brief contemplation that the Ultimate Lifeform had been rudely snapping his fingers at the wrong echidna.

"I am?"

"Chaos knows I'm not going to suffer Rouge if something DID happen to you and I wasn't around to stop it."

Knuckles could feel his hackles prickling, proud masculinity at risk and his own testosterone levels on the rise. 

"I don't need a babysitter," he informed Shadow and those around them.

"Neither did Sonic," Shadow huffed, "but there you go. You're with me." Deeming that it was wiser to put up with Shadow's grumbling than Rouge's deadly threats, Knuckles conceded defeat and trailed after Team 1.

"I guess we can start preparing," Blaze suggested. "Can't jump in blind with this one."

"Yeah, Sonic was the improv guy," Silver heartily agreed, all for a carefully laid out plan.

The lavender cat cleared her throat and wriggled her whiskers at the female hedgehog.

"If Knuckles is going with Shadow," she said, "you'd be best to stick with us, Amy."

Amy looked round at the remaining allies and soon discerned that they were in unanimous agreement with one another.

"This is so over the top," she sighed, resigning herself to the outcome.


	18. The Fox Can Do What The Lion Can’t

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tails’ day gets more complicated. Thankfully, this isn’t his first rodeo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "With Foxes we must play the Fox." - Thomas Fuller

It wasn't just Knuckles and Amy facing the music.

For many miles, the lone robot flew over endless choppy ocean until reaching the Abandoned Isles, touching down on Christmas Isle and hurrying to deliver his proud catch before the one who had sent him on his master's bidding - or so the lump of titanium had been lead to believe.

Having been trapped inside the robot for the lenghty duration, Tails was conflicted on whether to be relieved of receiving fresh air or anxious over the fact that, whatever destination they had been heading for, they had now arrived.

The 18 year old fox was deposited like a sacrificual lamb a few meters from a dark wood desk.

It wasn't the dank and dingy dungeon that Tails had been anticipating but, judging from the look on the face of the man seated at the desk, he wasn't convinced this was any better.

"Welcome," the gaunt human greeted without sincerity.

"Hi," Tails immediately responded, picking himself up and fluffing his fur out to its full length, a natural response in the wild when faced with danger.

The deranged Robotnik seemed amused by this display.

"Not quite as timid as I was imagining," he confessed.

"Not quite as timid as I used to be," Tails retorted smoothly, holding onto his confidence with two figurative hands and no intention of letting go.

"Fair enough," the human shrugged and made a point of glancing at his laptop. "You are Miles Prower? Otherwise known as Tails?"

Two could play this game.

"And you are Ira Robotnik," Tails noted back at him, "the unknown brother of Ivo Robotnik, otherwise known as Eggman?"

As intended, the word 'unknown' seemed to flick a tightly strung nerve.

"You've got spark, haven't you?" Ira went on smiling falsely.

"You have to have spark to do what we do."

"Freedom Fighter, yes?"

"If there is freedom to fight for then, yes."

Ira took a long minute to examine the fluffy lump of meat in front of him with the greed of a seasoned poacher.

"So you're the little tag-a-long?" he mused. "Took pity on you, did he?"

Of course, 'he' referred to Sonic, of which they were both aware.

Tails had yet to smile back.

"I like to think we found each other," he continued on, sharp blue eyes boring holes through Robotnik's glasses.

"How very sweet," Ira crooned. "You were how old when you met?"

The snarl that Tails was witholding threatened to break out and the tip of a fang was briefly seen for a split second.

"...Why?"

Ira shrugged. "Just curious."

_Every word from here on out_, Tails thought grimly, i_s going to have to be chosen extra carefully_.

Miles Prower was as cunning as the old tales made foxes out to be. He refused to let that reputation be tarnished now.

"...I was near to being four."

"No blood relatives?"

"Orphaned."

The satisfaction was evident in every aspect of Robotnik's face.

"Ah, like Sonic," he chuckled.

There was one thing that Tails had never asked Sonic, for Sonic had never brought it up himself; the subject of parentage. Hearing it from a stranger physically repulsed Tails.

"What?"

"I can see why he bonded with you so quickly," Ira nodded, examining his fingers and taking a twisted pleasure in seizing hold of the conversation. "You were in your clingy stages, were you?"

"All right, that's enough." Tails took a step forward. "What is it you want?"

Feigning surprise, Ira held his hands up in surrender.

"I'm just making polite conversation," he protested.

"If you want conversation," Tails told him in one fluid breath, "we can start talking about where Sonic is. I mean, given that you seem to like to talk about him so much..."

He was given another examination.

"You've got a lip on you as well," Ira muttered, both impressed and disgusted.

To that, Tails smiled, pride welling up from his chest.

"They say I get it from my brother."

The keen-eyed would tell you that Ira's jaw clentched tightly.

"You mean... Sonic," he stiffly swallowed, teeth grinding on teeth behind his lips.

"You work it out."

"You can't be his _brother_," Ira insisted. "His brother is dead."

"...I _beg _your pardon?"

"_My_ brother told me you were quite special to Sonic," Ira continued on, relaxing once more. "I'm just trying to figure out how and why."

But Tails was putting his foot down.

"No, wait, stop," he demanded, losing his temper and the grip on his snarl, bearing his mature fangs which had long since replaced his 'baby' teeth some time ago. "You're not going to be changing the subject whenever you want, where it suits you, pal." His voice was rising dangerously. "You've brought me here, I don't know why, so _I'm_ the one asking questions and _you're_ the one answering them, okay?"

Ira had to admit that the brawn of the 'runt' was something to admire.

"By all means," he smiled, leaning back and gesturing for Tails to continue. "I quite forget that foxes have a sharp bite."

"So do humans, I've learnt."

"You don't like humans?"

"Love humans," Tails said truthfully, though his tone was tight and laced with passive aggression. "They fascinate me."

Gazing at the fox's sky-blue eyes and finidng no trace of a lie, Ira dipped his head in acknowledgement.

"...Well then," he sighed, "ask away...'Tails'."

Now faced with vocal freedom, Tails was almost hesitant to embrace it although the empty silence was enough to remind him of why he was there.

"Where's Sonic?" he asked.

Ira Robotnik, it seemed, though having allowed Tails to speak, was clearly adamant that the fox would have to work for his information.

"Safe," he merely replied, smirking at his own cleverness.

"Is he here?"

"Somewhere."

"Why am I here?"

"Because I ordered this robot to bring you."

"And why did you do that?"

"Because," Ira laughed, standing up, "the feeling is mutual - _you_ fascinate _me_."

"Save your breath," Tails growled. "You hardly looked at me when we saw you at the park."

"I didn't know who you were then. I only knew Sonic."

The bait was hanging in front of him and Tails took it. "...How do you know him?"

Ira stretched his arms, relishing in the moment he had been waiting for.

"I was sent to retrieve him for my brother way back in the day," he answered. "I was also tasked with the job of -ahem- disposing his family. THAT is how I know him."

Sometimes, there were things you wished you had never asked.

"...Why do you and Eggman want him?"

"Ohhh," Ira sang, "now THAT would be telling."

Ears pinned back, Tails' pupils narrowed.

"...You're not fascinated by me at all, are you?" he huffed, in perfect Shadow fashion, "Eggman's told you to bring me here to torment Sonic!"

Ira closed his eyes and let out an overly dramatic sigh, as though he were being forced to deal with an imbecile.

"Eggman, as you call him," he said, aware that the nickname had been placed on the whole Robotnik family, thanks to Ivo, "has no idea you're here." Tails was genuinely taken aback. "He's far too busy with his new pet to worry about the likes of you. I was merely curious about Sonic's life in the years when I was locked up. Apparently, he remembers nothing of his life before you so... Here you are."

Looking away and choosing to send a quick glare up at the robot that had brough him, Tails took solace in a basic fact:

"I'm not his only friend, you know. There are others."

Ira gave a grunt. 

"I DO know," he nodded. "I've read all about the likes of Amy Rose and Knuckles. But you seemed to be the easiest to manage. Less of a threat."

When Tails glanced back round, there was a sinister smirk on his face, a look that did not look right on someone as 'sweet' as Tails.

"...That's what most people assume when they meet me," he explained softly. "I'm just the gadget guy. Couldn't swat a swot bot if it stood still in front of me, right?"

Ira wasn't sure if he should say anything to that.

"So what now?" Tails asked, proudly scoring a speechless point over his enemy. "I'm going to hazard a guess that you're not intending to let me go."

"I haven't got all I want from you yet."

"I haven't got a lot to give."

Ira stroked his goatee and flared his nostrils.

"...Come," he rumbled, "Let's reunite you with Sonic. I'm sure you've missed each other."


	19. June 23rd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All hoglets are born pale and spineless for the first hour or so. 
> 
> In the late hours of a June evening, however, Jules and Aleena meet their children for the very first time and it’s discovered, once the babies have coloured, that one of them may have inherited something else entirely...

_ June 22nd...23rd. _

* * *

Jules' soft paw on her brow was a welcome relief in Aleena's hot state as she concentrated on breathing and witholding the urge to kick the covers off of her to cool off her damp furred body.

She had given birth over an hour ago and yet she still felt as though it had all happened in the past five minutes.

The residents of Christmas Isle, people who had never lain eyes on a baby hedgehog, had heard the news that Aleena Bernadette Hedgehog, wife of Julius the Hedgehog, had gone into labour in the late hours in the evening of June 22nd, nestled away in their private cottage with only the doctor and the nurse to attend to them.

The first hoglet had arrived smoothly and the second had come shortly after at a quarter to midnight.

But there had been a wait for the third which eventually arrived at 7 minutes _after_ midnight which meant, techincally speaking, it had been born the following day after its siblings, on June 23rd.

All in all, it had taken a toll on the new mother and she was utterly exhausted, wondering why her adrenaline hadn't kicked in.

"How are you, sweetheart?" Jules asked in a low voice, moving his mouth close to his wife's ears.

"Tired," Aleena breathed, her tan chest rising and falling as a smile appeared on her face. "But happy. What of the children?" Her eyes opened, already fixated on her husband where she had sought his voice behind her closed lids.

"They said they would bring them along soon," Jules told her comfortingly, stroking her quills and gazing at her adoringly, still unable to comprehend that such a beauty had agreed to marry him and bear his children.

"They all made it?" she asked.

Her husband nodded. "All three."

"Have you seen them?"

"I briefly saw the first. Looked just like you."

The sound of the bedroom door opening commanded their attention.

"Mr and Mrs Hedgehog?" the squirrel nurse said softly. "Your hoglets are here."

Swaddled in cloth, one in the crook of each elbow, were two bundles. Closer inspection, once they were delivered into the waiting arms of their parents, revealed two newborn hoglets, soft-spined and squeaking, blind eyes pressed shut. The nurse had cleaned them up and checked them over thoroughly but showed no signs of having any worrying conditions or problems. 

As many other new parent before them, Jules and Aleena fell in love.

Jules had been right about their daughter, the first of the litter; she was a miniature Aleena and already promised her mother's gifted beauty.

The son, a small scrap of a character with blazing green fur, looked more like his father's side of the family though he, like his sister, was the latest in a long line of pedigree, Purebred Hedgehogs.

Other distant branches of the Hedgehog Family Tree had interbred with other species, as was common among most Mobians, resulting in descendents that may have carried the genes of other animal races.

The First Line of Hedgehogs, however, back in the past, only ever married within their own distant families to ensure that their geneology was 100% hedgehog.

Seeing as Aleena and Jules, and now their children, were the only ones left of that line, it was safe to say that the Purebred Hedgehog trait would come to a close. Even if one of their litter ended up marrying another hedgehog one day, their mate would not have been from the First Line and would therefore have other species in their genealogical history.

But that didn't matter anymore; the Hedgehog Dynasty was over and the Acorn Dynasty was the thriving monarchy now.

What _did_ matter was the fact that they only had two offspring to admire.

"Where's the third?" Aleena asked anxiously, cradling her baby boy as Jules held their daughter.

"The doctor will bring him," the Nurse assured her, tidying the room up and hiding a yawn to disguise her own tiredness.

"Him?" Aleena echoed, eyes shining. "Another boy?"

"Yes. A very active boy," the Nurse chuckled. She then straightened and stared off in the mid-distance, lost in thought. "He's... unusual," she sighed.

The new parents had heard her.

"In what way?" Jules asked suspiciously.

As though in answer, the doctor arrived and, in his arms, was the final hoglet.

True to the Nurse's observation, their final child was very active, kicking and wriggling in his blanket, not wishing to be covered. But the thing they noticed the most...

"...He's beautiful." Aleena hadn't meant to sound so awe-struck, but she was.

It was worth noting that Jules was blue.

Jules’ brother was blue.

Their great-grandfather had been blue.

Jules' second son was... _very_ blue.

Yet while Jules and those of his family that shared this colouration were a soft sky blue, this baby was vastly different. His fur was electric blue, strong and vivid, out of place in comparison to the powder blue of his father.

"I have to admit," the doctor had said, placing the dancing hoglet down in Aleena's lap beside his brother. "I have never seen a hedgehog this shade before. You have a very handsome son."

"I have_ two _handsome sons," Jules immediately corrected, admiring the strong bright colours of both boys before nuzzling the nose of the one he still held. "And a beautiful daughter."

Aleena smiled at her blue son's antics, pawing mid-air and squeaking, nudging and gently pushing his green brother who had now grown quiet, listening and feeling the pushes.

"Why did you keep him back?" she asked, running her finger along their legs. The doctor and the nurse glanced at one another.

"...These two were checked out fine," the doctor began, nodding to the purple and green babies. "They are healthy happy hoglets. Everything normal. Your third, however, seemed to be very active upon his birth. We feared it was a seizure."

"A seizure?" Aleena repeated, staring at the blue hoglet in shock. He seemed to be perfectly fine! Yes he was jerking his legs a little but all babies kicked, didn't they?

"His heart-rate is abormally high," the doctor went on, rubbing his tired eyes. "Far too rapid for a newborn."

"Yet his legs are extrememly strong," the nurse added positively. "Managed to kick us away. Don't think I've seen such strong legs." Proving this, the blue hoglet thrusted his legs forward and surprised his mother by putting enough force behind the kick to accidently hurt her fingers.

"But he seems fine..." Jules pressed before he froze, the facts sinking in. "...You think he's been affected by the Chaos energy?"

The doctor moistened his lips.

"I am sorry," he sighed dejectedly, "I do not want to raise false hope but... I do not know what your son's chances of survival are."

Aleena's tears had all been spent so she resorted to a kind of... numbness.

Jules could feel a lump in his throat. 

"...Thank you, Doctor," he croaked.

Sensing his wishes, the doctor and nurse bowed and quietly left them alone for a while.

In silence, Jules and Aleena watched their litter and stroked them. The first two gurlged and yawned and fell asleep. The third went on wiggling and kicking, pushing himself along Aleena's lap, eager to be moving. Aleena had to put her hand in the way to stop him from falling off the bed.

"We never chose names," she then whispered, her eyes glassing over.

Jules shrugged. "We don't know their personalities."

Aleena's lower lip wobbled a little as she took a breath. 

"...If... If what the doctor..." she stuttered. "If what he said is true... We must name him quickly... just in case... in case..." She stopped as Jules touched her hand.

"Do you believe he's going to die?" he asked, face void of emotion.

Aleena stared at the child and, with a fierce glare, shook her head. "...No."

"Then neither do I," Jules smiled in relief.

* * *

_"Turn your back on glaring day,  
Relish instead the cooling night,  
Where wicked fox and haunting owl,  
The strong that stalk the weak tonight._

_Tis darkness where we thrive and grow,  
We, the hunters and they, the prey,  
So every night, my boy, go wander,  
For just one prize may come our way."_

Once upon a time, there had been a man, a cold man, who had stood by the bedroom window of a young boy and had recited those words as the child lay in his bed at night.

Dr Robotnik had never had good memories of his father. He was a man that no-one could impress, no matter how hard or how long one might try. Robotnik's father was a troubled mind trapped in a failing body, bored with the world and only the power of a god might interest him.

Robotnik chose to forget most of his father but those words had always stayed with him.

Where was the written law that said humans could not be nocturnal?

Humans were predators too. And predators liked to hunt in the dark.

Patience was everything.

The art of a good hunter was to wait, watching, still and silent... waiting... and waiting... and waiting... until you pounced at the very... last... second...

Aleena was asleep.

Jules was nowhere to be seen.

Careless of him.

There were some who would have said that Dr Robotnik was an overweight pencil-pusher with as much experience in the field as a duck in the desert. This was false. Robotnik hadn't earnt his reputation for being 'evil' by desk-work alone.

He had set his hover craft to make as little noise as possible, the engine now humming at a low frequency as he cast his ominous shadow on the stonework of the cottage. Four tiny drones were released from the craft capsule, silently entering the house and making their way up to Aleena's bedroom whereby they carefully opened the window. The wind was good and carried Robotnik's scent away from the house.

Hedgehogs had remarkable senses of smell. In fact, biologists claimed that a hedgehog's smelling abilities were on par with a dog's.

Robotnik wasn't sure if that was true or not but he was reluctant to find out tonight.

The young mother gave a small moan in her sleep, troubled by something in the back of her mind but not fully conscious of what was going on a few meters from her.

Stealing into the room, Robotnik was quick to tiptoe to the crib, stretching his hearing capabilities to warn him of the approaching step of a, no doubt, protective hedgehog father...

"Shh... shh..." Robotnik whispered in an undertone, hearing the small squeaks and grunts of the hoglets. "It's okay... I won't hurt you."

The first order of business was to take photos for he and his brother to study. Well, _Ivo_ was the one studying, not Ira. Ira was going to be there watching and learning.

The photos were carefully taken and sent off to his lab where Ira would be waiting to recieve them at the computer, leaving Robotnik the task of a swipe and run.

Yet this was the first time he had seen a baby hedgehog too and he was taken by just how small they were.

A human baby was, on average, a little under the length of the mother's forearm at birth but hedgehogs... All three of them were about the size of Aleena's _palm._

In retrospect, Robotnik had theorised that the cause of this was because hedgehogs, by nature, typically had litters, meaning that the babies would be smaller so as to take up less room if there happened to be more than one in the womb. Of course, litters were becoming rarer but still...

"Where are you off to?" Robotnik murmured, catching sight of one hoglet that was pushing himself along on his tummy with his back legs, crossing the length of his spacious crib with swiftness. "_Not even Mobian babies should be able to move as much as you can_," Robotnik said in his head, curiosity peaking at the unusually bright blue baby who had just that second opened his eyes to peer around the room.

Were hoglets meant to be able to open their eyes at this early stage in life?

"Strong, aren't you?" Robotnik smiled as the hoglet began another lap of his crib, hardly using his front paws at all. Slowly, Robotnik moved his hand behind the crawling hedgehog baby to let him push off his palm so as to gauge the force.

Instead, as his hand drew near, the baby stopped, sneezed, and, as though sensing an oncoming attack, sent out a sharp kick. To Ivo's shock, the little foot was strong enough to repel the hand and make it sting, a deep purple bruise already forming on the tender skin. It took a lot to prevent a hiss of pain escaping the human's mouth.

"...That's quite a kick," he growled under his breath. Now that he was being left alone, off the hoglet went, kicking his way around his crib, getting faster and faster and faster... "Don't think I've ever seen a hedgehog quite as blue as you," Robotnik then noted, realising, for the first time, that the hoglet that had kicked him wasn't a colour he had been expecting. "I've only seen that colour on..."

It struck Robotnik there and then.

"...A Chaos Emerald."

The beautiful royal blue of the very Chaos Emerald that Aleena had been holding the day that...

There was no question.

His mother and father be damnned, the hoglet was his primary concern now, not the wrath his parents might bestow on him.

Gritting his teeth and preparing for his cover to be blown, Robotnik took a hold of the scruff of the hoglet's neck, pulling the baby up with his finger tips. Baby hedgehogs' quills were meant to be soft to begin with so... why were they starting to prick through his gloves _now_? The little blue hoglet wasn't answering that. It began to protest instead.

"Now, don't squeak. Don't squeak," Robotnik murmured, hearing Aleena stir behind him and the rapid thumps of feet running up the stairs. "Let me look at you."

The bedroom door flew open just as Aleena screamed.

"PUT HIM DOWN!" the hedgehog father howled, stopping himself from throwing his weight at Robotnik for fear of his children getting hurt.

"Now, now, Julius," the scientist reasoned, cradling the blue hoglet protectively, aware that it was his only shield against his parents. "No sudden moves. You're scaring the children." Aleena was about to get up but a stern hand from her husband cautioned her to remain where she was. "I only wanted to look," Robotnik protested sweetly, "I couldn't believe it when I heard you had all three."

He glanced over to where the first two, frightened by the noise their parents were making, were wailing miserably, seeking one another out for protection and comfort. Their blue brother, still in the clutches of the stranger, was calling for them desperately. 

"I've been keeping up to date with your progress, Aleena," Robotnik explained. "Wanted to be around to see what would become of your babies after... Well, you know."

"Put him down," Jules repeated in a calmer voice, realising that their hoglets were in distress. The 'good' doctor, however, wasn't helping the situation.

"I understand this was a very risky move on my part. I think I read somewhere that hedgehogs were very sensitive to having their nests disturbed. You aren't going to be dining on newborn hoglet as soon as I've gone are you?"

Disgust was written all over the adult hedgehogs' faces.

"Could I not spare this one?" Robotnik held up the ball of blue fur and spines and ran his fingers gently along the side of the hoglet's snout, stroking him. "Wouldn't think he'd been born only a few hours ago, would you?" he chuckled. "Seems... too advanced. Already opening his eyes, already moving about like a toddler... Not newborn behaviour at all, is it? And these legs..." Holding the baby's peachy tummy in his hand and letting the back legs hang down, Robotnik could feel the tiny foot claws scratching at his wrist. "I dread to think how painful it must of been when they started kicking about in the womb. This little one could out-kick a horse. Certainly put some dents in a metal sheet, that's for sure."

"Robotnik," Jules said in a low voice, fear outlacing any anger now, "you’re not _that_ low. Leave my children alone and get out."

"They're very beautiful," Robotnik complimented, now slowly running his hand over the hoglet's spines in the direction they were growing, privately marvelling that they were starting to feel even firmer than before. "This one is certainly extremely handsome. I take it there aren't any in the family that share his colouring?"

Silence spoke loudly.

"Didn't think so." The hoglet squeaked once more. "He's very special," Robotnik nodded. "You should be very proud."

His voice then became strangely quiet, turning the baby hedgheog in his hand to gaze into his clean green eyes.

"I... I have a feeling about this one..." he whispered, more to himself than anyone else, "and I don't normally get _feelings_. But this one... I think we'll be seeing each other a lot in the future."

It had been the wrong thing to say.

In reply, the tiny blue hoglet opened his mouth and revealed a gummy mouth. Spurred by the feeling of danger, he then proceeded to sink his non-existent teeth into the hand that held him causing the stranger to let out an exclamation of annoyance which offered his father an opening.

So engrossed with the hoglet, Dr Robotnik hadn't realised that Jules had slowly positioned himself closer between the human and the crib. Now the oppurtunity presented itself, he had jumped and grabbed Robotnik's wrist, kicking out a leg at the same time, practically wrenching his son from the scientist's hold and leaping away again. 

As he was pulled from the doctor's grasp, the tiny hoglet rolled and his little spines raked against Robotnik's palm, cutting through the fabric of the glove and lightly cutting the skin.

"I'll have it so that none of them ever know your _name_!" he snarled viciously. Aleena had now scrambled from bed and hurriedly scooped up the remainder of her litter, soothing them in her chest fur.

Robotnik stood, nursing a now bleeding right hand with a look of black fury in his facial features. Taking off his glasses, he glared at the hedgehog family.

"You can't keep him forever," he promised. "Try and hide him all you like. But we'll come for your son one day. You can't keep him." He was then out the window and gone.

_"Tis darkness where we thrive and grow,  
We, the hunters and they the prey,  
So every night, my boy, go wander,  
For just one prize may come our way."_


	20. The SSSSSS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing the New SSSSSS: The Super Special Sonic Search and Save Squad

Vector took a good long look at his notes, scribbled out in shorthand on a slightly crinkled post-it that had lost most of its stick.

"So what we got?" he asked himself. "South Island, Christmas Island... uh, Flicky Island?" He leant back against his chair and almost pushed off Espio who, for some bizarre reason, was expertly perched like the ninja he was on the back.

Omega was doing his level best to not puncture the paper files he was holding in his sharp hands. 

"**Records are extremely outdated,**" he bleeped. He had spent the past hour running through as many electronic files as he could possibly handle in an effort to compile everything anyone knew of the Abandoned Isles. All that effort had not given a very satisfactory result.

"Maybe it can be narrowed down by using newspapers," Espio suggested, deeming that it was safer on the ground. "Sonic's only 25, it's not like this all happened centuries ago."

"The residents of South Island knew of Sonic pretty well," Shadow murmured, leaning against the wall. "Don't see why we can't go back and carry out a little more friendly persuasion to get more information."

"Friendly persuasion?" laughed a bee above him. "You just look at them like you're about to murder them and they wet themselves in their hurry to give information."

Shadow shrugged. "Everyone has their own way of doing things."

"Oh yeah?"

"Silver uses the 'cute' routine by giving the whole 'Oh I'm from the future and I really need your help...' yarn."

Charmy flicked his attenae. "...So he tells them the truth."

"**While on a mission, it is an effective method**," Omega reasoned. "**Not, however, when he is simply lost in a shopping centre." **

"And then Sonic..." Shadow's face tightened. "...Well, he just has to smile or breathe and everyone trips over their own feet to help him out."

"Ah," Charmy giggled, "so THAT'S how you became friends with him."

It was incredible how a simple glare could sap the warmth from you.

"Charmy," Espio chastised, "you know better."

Deeming it sensible to put a good distance between himself and Shadow, Charmy buzzed to the other side of the room and hovered beside Vector instead. The burly crocodile was playing with his pencil and leaning on his elbow at the same time. His reptillian eyes casually swept the room from his position at his desk and came to rest on the red shape on the far side.

"The view out the window givin' yer anythin', pal?" he asked.

Knuckles had nestled his head on his forearms, his eyes half-lidded as he remained motionless at the window seat, staring out at the scenery.

"...Guess not," Vector muttered when not recieving an answer. He glanced sideways at Shadow. "We can keep yer idea in mind if this supposed 'in-fer-mation highway' don't give us the goods."

Shadow, on the other hand, was also looking at Knuckles.

The echidna had gone into some sort of slump since discovering that another of his friends was gone.

"...You know," Shadow told him, "it wouldn't take a trained robot two seconds to break that window and take off with you."

Knuckles hardly cared about that.

To an extent, Shadow could somewhat understand.

Knuckles had only ever lived alone before Sonic and Tails had crashed into his world and, though he was always reluctant to say it aloud, he considered them as his closest friends, his own personal brotherhood.

Shadow supposed that if Omega and Rouge were taken from him, he'd be a little distracted too.

He turned to the aforementioned Omega and lowered his voice, "Go guard the guardian."

Omega carefully dropped the file on the desk and tried to casually and discretely (which, for a large robot was near impossible) wander towards Knuckles and stand behind him.

"**I enjoy window watching too.**"

* * *

At another window, a white-grey hedgehog and an orange-peach coloured echidna were stood with their faces up against the glass.

"I can tell them that I'm from the future and that I need help," Silver suggested.

"Yeah?" Shade smiled. "I can tell them I'm from the _past_ and I'm looking for a valuable relic of my time. Which one do you think they'll be more likely to believe?"

Silver mulled it over. "...We really ought to hang out more."

"Here, got us coffee." Blaze and the others were walking towards them along the highstreet with a tray of takeaway coffee cups between them. "Why are you guys breathing all over the locksmith's window?"

"Working out if we can get him to bust open Tails' workshop," Silver replied, gratefully accepting a cup from Big.

The second group had been working on the best strategy to organise a rescue mission and, so far, the unanimous agreement was that the most reliable tools would be found inside Tails' workshop at Mystic Ruins. The only catch was that Tails' had made sure to shut down the workshop before dashing off to deal with the robot attack and a distraught Zooey hadn't any idea on how to get in. None of them wanted to risk breaking in and having the security system activate on them!

"Don't reckon it would work," Amy sighed in answer to Silver's and Shade's idea. "Tails has some pretty intense stuff in his workshop; you can't just get in with a key. The only ones will full access clearance are he and Sonic."

"That's 'cause they built it together," Big's deep, kindly voice said quietly. He was talking to Froggy Jr, cuddled into the long fur on the cat's shoulders. Froggy Jr was the offspring of Froggy who, I am sorry to say, fell victim to time and had died peacefully of old age 5 years ago.

Blaze stroked her silvery whiskers.

"There must be _some_ way of getting in," she frowned. "I mean, wouldn't the system recognise you, Amy?"

All eyes turned to the pink hedgehog but she looked doubtful.

"In the event of an Eggman attack that requires us to be away," she explained. "Tails shuts his workshop down. It's a new protocol to minimise the risk of Eggman breaking in and stealing his stuff while we're not there. I only know the opening password but I have no idea what the number sequence is to actually get in. That's only for Sonic and Tails to know." She cradled her coffee and sipped it delicately. "Like Big said," she mumbled, "they're the ones who built it."

As the sombre mood descended and a little misery began to smother them all, Froggy grew aggitated. He croaked warningly as a new voice joined in the conversation.

"Can _we_ be of assistance?"

* * *

Back at the Chaotix Detective Agency, Team 1 was just about to agree to Shadow's idea of returning to South Island to ask questions when Blaze lead the way through the door.

"Guys?" she called. "We might have got somewhere."

"What do you mean?" asked Espio, casually flicking the tip of his very long (and very hidden) tongue out between his lips as he thought about their predicament.

Behind Blaze, flanked by the others, two small robots came hovering in.

"Greetings!" Orbot waved, making his blue optics look 'friendly'.

"What the-?" Vector cried, jumping to his feet as everyone tensed up.

Omega was already warming his guns.

"Wait!" Blaze held out her hands to Omega. "They know where Sonic is!"

That was enough for Knuckles.

He pressed forward and stood impassively in front of them.

"And?" he prompted sternly.

Orbot and Cubot had, understandably, been startled by the -_expected_\- reaction from the others but the former had recovered quickly.

"Sonic and Eggman are being held on Christmas Isle. Sonic's birthplace," Orbot announced grandly, lifting his round head proudly, awaiting praise.

He was waiting for a while.

"...You...You two knew that..." Shadow repeated softly, "...and it's taken you _this_ long to tell us?"

"Give us a break!" Cubot grumbled. "D'you know how long it took for us to first find our way to the beach from Eggman's old factory? And then paddle all the way over the sea to find land? Then we later found out we were_ actually _on South Island so then we had to paddle-"

"Where's the Robotnik Factory?" Knuckles interrupted.

"Well, er, we can take you," said Orbot. "See, our creator, Dr Eggman, you know... _that_ fellow... he's, uh, well he seems to be at odds with his 'brother'."

"Yeah," Cubot continued, "and they ain't getting along either. Eggman's little bro socked him one and he's keeping him to do some kind of research. Don't ask us what 'cause we sure as heck don't know. But if there's been any trouble since then, it ain't been Eggman. It's that skinny guy with the goatee. Said he broke out of an asylum and stole a boat-"

"Awesome!"

Everyone turned to Charmy with varying degrees of confusion on their faces.

The bee flattened his wings and blushed.

"...I meant, you know, that's ONE case fully solved. ... You know, the harbour case? We... I mean... It's solved now." He cleared his throat. "Go us..."

"You also said you can get us into Tails' workshop," Silver pressed, shaking his head at the bee.

Not to be outdone by Eggman's current henchmen, Omega stepped forward.

"**Any robot can access Tails' workshop so long as someone provides the opening password**."

Now it was Omega that was the recipient to the faces.

"Flaming..." Blaze broke off, not wanting to swear. "...Omega, why didn't you tell us? We've been trying to work out how to get into that workshop!"

Omega dropped his head and enlarged his optics to make himself cuter. "**I was not aware of this.**"

"How about we go and make ourselves aware?" Amy suggested in a hard voice. "Some of us are gonna need all the help we can get if we're going up against these robots."

"Especially Metal Sonic," growled Shadow.

Amy felt her heart shudder and a cold tingle stung the back of her neck. The piercing red eyes appeared in her mind again... _the growl of circuitry and the gutteral groan of metal components_...

"...Yeah."


	21. Adding Petrol To A Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ira thinks he’s been clever and that everything is under his control whereas Ivo has been in this situation before and is painfully aware that ‘control’ isn’t something you tend to have when dealing with Sonic.

Eggman was watching with interest as Metal Sonic, having still not moved an inch since settling in the room, was staring, unmovably, at Sonic, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor of his 'cage'. The blue hedgehog was gazing right back at his metal counterpart, the occassional twitch of his ears and eyes being the only indication that something secret was going on.

"What are you two talking about?" Eggman asked slowly, smiling to himself.

Sonic only twisted an ear in his direction to indicate he had heard him.

"...Who said we were talking?" he asked back, eyes still transfixed on Metal.

Sonic's scans were complete now and Eggman was waiting for the computer to process and upload the results. He was aimlessly stroking the desk with his gloved finger.

"I built Metal and I know you very well," he boasted. "I can tell when there's a sneaky conversation going on."

In truth, the fact that Metal had worked out how to project his thoughts to Sonic wasn't originally intended. The Life Data that Eggman had been lucky enough to extract from Sonic was meant to give Metal the skills to anticipate and prepare for Sonic's iminent attacks, where possible, and to pinpoint Sonic more effectively when the 'Mach 1 and Beyond' hedgehog was an incomprehensible blur - the ultimate moving target. The somewhat 'Sixth Sense' had become mutual between them and had progressed and grown into an almost telepathic bond.

Eggman had never given Metal a mouth, deeming that the one thing of Sonic's that he didn't want to replicate was his lippy attitude, and so the closest that anyone else had come to hearing 'a voice', as such, was a borrowed aesthetic tone that Metal had downloaded from another computer and that simply sounded like a Text-To-Speech voice.

No-one but Sonic had heard the _true_ voice of Metal and Eggman had still not worked out if he was envious of that or not.

"...You know I'm not going to be staying here very long, don't you?"

Eggman shook his thoughts away. 

"Of course I do," he answered seriously. "Ira is a spoilt brat that reckons he's got this 'evil villainy' in the bag. Doesn't know the first thing about catching hedgehogs."

Sonic had climbed back onto his feet, having finished his private exchange with Metal, and was presenting a perfect Sonic 'smirk'. 

"Neither do you."

Eggman looked a little indignant. 

"I know more than him," he protested. "I _told_ him you would break yourself out of there or someone would do it for you and I look forward to you proving me right. No pressure."

"Actually _wanting_ me to break out..." Sonic laughed in amusement. "Never thought our time together would come to this, Egghead."

"I know you'll make quite a show of it, as is your style, but please don't wreck the place too much. I'm..." Eggman chuckled. "Well, I'm rather fond of the old lair."

Sonic glanced around sceptically. "...Where are we? I never asked."

"This... Pardon? Oh, er, this is Ira's room." Eggman was partially distracted by Sonic's results coming through. It amazed him that he had never had this oppurtunity before in his life. "Probably why you don't know it."

Sonic shook his head. 

"I meant... Outside," he reiterated. "Where are we?"

Eggman glanced up. His malicious smile was back.

"...Christmas Isle," he replied. "...Welcome home."

He didn't expect those words to mean anything to Sonic; the poor wretched creature wouldn't remember anything of his early years.

Sonic studied the room carefully, not reacting to Eggman's reply, as expected. 

"...This... was your first factory." It was as though a small, fleeting memory was trying to resurface but just couldn't quite make it...

"Is. It _IS_ my first factory," Eggman sharply corrected. "Still functions perfectly well, thank you very much. There's still life in these walls."

"Don't kid yourself; there's never been 'life' in one of your places. It's _all_ metal." Sonic shot a scathing glare at the robot hedgehog outside his container. "Just like you, rust-bucket."

All Eggman heard was a vicious grind of gears.

Sonic heard different.

"Hey, now!" he protested. "Your _master_ over there wouldn't like to hear you say _that_. Foul-mouthed hog-bot."

Eggman was now engrossed in his work again and gave little attention to the antics of his robot and his arch enemy; Sonic's statistics were starting to come through on the screen, earning his full attention.

"_Biologically speaking,_" he thought to himself, eyes widening as he took in the information, "_Sonic's...dead_."

His heart, the precious muscle that worked to pump all that blood around the body, appeared to be just like any ordinary heart, on first glance, beating away rhythmically a little on the fast side. During the scans, however, Eggman had managed to catch Sonic performing a few high-speed rolls around his glass prison and the recorded data revealed that, when on the move, that same heart rapidly increased to BPM levels that science claimed were just NOT possible for any living organism to survive.

Then there were his leg muscles...

"...Out of curiosity," Sonic's voice interrupted his train of thought, "what's baby Eggman brother actually hoping to do? I've been here a while now and, thanks to Metal, I've not been _completely _bored but it's come pretty close. He knows about the running thing, right? I gotta be excercised every half an hour and if that routine doesn't start soon, I'm gonna go stir crazy. You told him that right? Also, I'm not being funny, but when am I allowed a bathroom break? I mean,_ wild _hedgehogs might be comfortable doing 'their thing' while they're out for a stroll in the woods but, while I'm considered wild, I'm not THAT wild. Could I get food too? I'm getting-"

"The fact that you've yet to be fed, have not had bathroom trips organised for you and have had little to no schedual arranged for your constant running regime can only suggest that the current situation is temporary," Eggman snapped, frustrated that a new message had now popped up on his comms. "Ira will be moving you."

The glass recieved an unfair kick from a mighty powerful leg.

"...He's taking his sweet time about it," the hedgehog grumbled, striding a lap of the dome and awaiting some sort of patronising remark from the only other conversing occupant of the room.

Eggman, however, had stiffened. His face was pinched, an ambivolent expression that was too conflicting to read.

"...What?" asked Sonic suspiciously.

Eggman's thick throat rippled as he swallowed.

"Nothing." He shook his head. "Just tired."

"Eeeegmaaan," Sonic sang. He was leaning upon his elbow, his face tilted down slightly, his emerald gaze boring like steel. "You said you know me. Well, I know you too. And I know something is bothering you."

Caught between a rock and a hardplace, Eggman could only shrug his shoulders and accept the impending outcome.

"...I'm sorry," he sighed.

His message had been from Ira. Ira was on his way to see them.

The unsuspecting Sonic scoffed. "Bit late for that, isn't it?"

"No, I'm... I'm sorry that..." Eggman found his words faltering and he gave up. "You're not going to like what's coming."

What was coming turned out to be a defiant looking fox, escorted by a smug looking human.

* * *

Sonic's reaction hadn't been the one that the Robotniks had been expecting.

They had been expecting a furious outcry, a rage-induced roar, or a few good glass bangs maybe.

Yet, strangely, neither he or Tails spoke.

There was no calling out to one another, no asking of their welfare, or anything.

It was silent communication.

Metal recoiled a little after having tried to gain access to Sonic's thoughts and been abruptly - forcefully - slammed out. Any communication beween Sonic and Metal Sonic had to be two-way and, for the moment, Sonic was barring all visitors. His face was expressionless and his eyes void of emotion. One might think he had transmogrified into a waxwork.

"You've upset him now." The encroaching silence was broken by Tails. "Tormenting Sonic never got Eggman anywhere."

"And it's rude to talk about someone when they're in the room," Eggman huffed, rubbing his temples.

"Just wanted to let you know that there's more at stake than just yourself, Sonic," Ira began, patronisingly patting Tails on the head and being thanked with a low warning growl. "Before we progress with anything, it's worth letting you know that cooperation is going to be the wisest course of action. Also," Ira turned to Eggman, "based on what I've learnt, I'd wager that the rest of Sonic's apparent 'friends' will be working out a way to get back at us for this so..."

"_Us_?" Eggman wheeled slowly around in his chair, gripping the arm rests tightly with both hands.

Ira held his hand out to his brother. "We're partners. In for a penny, in for a dime."

"Oh _are_ we?" Eggman gasped sarcastically and gave a sneer. "My word, you've learnt nothing from me."

"I've learnt that two hostages are more effective against would-be rescuers than just one. You used to love playing those mind games on your enemies." Ira shoved Tails forward towards Metal Sonic and closed the doors. "That's what I was saying; the other 'heroes' will be less likely to plow straight in and ruin everything if they aren't certain of someone or other's assured safety and well-being."

"You'll make a mistake," Eggman sighed, turning back round, "I guarantee you'll make a mistake. You've already made _one_."

"What? Bringing the double-dorselled runt here?"

Eggman hissed as he sucked air through his teeth. "...And there's mistake number 2."

"What?"

"Sonic just heard what you said."

Sonic and Tails were still silently staring at one another, almost as though there were some telepathic connection between them too.

Ira certainly wasn't feeling too threatened and he let his brother know by coating his voice in sarcasm. "I'm terrified."

"Good. That lets me know you're not _all_ stupid."

"Are you working with me on this or not?" Ira snapped, his temper fraying on its last fibres.

Eggman decided to open another game of Solitaire.

"Ask yourself that and get back to me."

Ira's mind was a web of conflicting pathways. Was he not carrying out everything correctly? Already he had caught Sonic and now Tails and, despite everything, his brother was dead-set on carrying out this research. Then there was the fact that he had command of the robots...

Anyone who knew anything would admit that Ira was a successful villain.

Why was Ivo still casting doubts?

Why was he so certain that he was going to fail?

...What catch had he seen... that Ira hadn't?

"You know something."

Eggman sniggered wickedly. "I know lots of things."

"...No," Ira murmured. "No, you... I know what this is!" Ira stamped his foot childishly. "You're trying to make me trip up. Make me doubt something. All these cryptic warnings and... and... and vague statements and questioning remarks... You're going to get me to overthink something. This is all a bluff. A double bluff! A triple bluff-"

"Ira?" Eggman called gently. "Look over to that container and tell me what you see."

Ira looked.

"Sonic."

"Right and you want to know what _I_ see?"

Eggman rose to his feet and came to stand beside Ira, revealing that he was a centimeter or so taller. Lowering his voice to a breath, Eggman took his brother by the shoulders and moved his mouth close to his ear.

"I see an extremely rare and unfathomly powerful animal that I have yet to unravel and that has constantly thwarted every scheme and plan I've ever come up with and is, single-handedly, the individual responsible for my increasing stress and insanity over the past 25 years. That is a young, hyperactive ball of energy covered in virtually indestructable spikes with an overactive heart and muscles that are absoultely _jacked_. Trust me: I've been in many situations like this. It doesn't end the way you think it will. He was already ticked off with you before..." He drew away once more. "...Now you're endangering his closest friend."

Ira was sullen. "... I don't need you to watch my back."

"You're right," Eggman agreed. "Whatever's coming your way is going to slam into you from the front."

Ominous indeed.

"Tails is going to be staying in here with you," Ira then announced, as an afterthought, it seemed, as he blatantly ignored the sinister forebodence. "I figure if your data on him is correct, he might be able to help you with your research. Sonic will be moved to a more comfortable... container."

He looked to Metal Sonic expectantly.

Metal whirred, sent a sneaky glance at Eggman, then rooted himself before Sonic.

Tails winced as a sharp, high frequency squeal emitted from Metal's throat.

To the Robotnik brothers, all was silent.

To Tails, the high pitch tone was an unbearable irritation.

To Sonic, it would have been less painful if someone were hacking away at his inner ear with a meat cleaver.

With his hands pressed over his head, it only took a second for the hedgehog to crumple to the floor, unconscious and, bizarrely, Metal followed suit, collapsing with a clang and a bang.

"Ira!" Eggman cried out in protest. He leapt from his chair and scurried over to the robot, kneeling and protectively scooping it into his arms. "You can't make Metal do that unless its an absolute emergency! He's short circuited now!"

It was a flaw in Metal's construction - to render Sonic in such a state without physical contact, the robot had to channel all his power and overload his systems.

"You expected me to grab Sonic by the scruff of his neck and hope not to get bitten?" Ira laughed. "Metal Sonic will reboot it an hour or so when Sonic wakes up. Plenty of time."

Tails was just about ready to jump at him but he restrained himself, logically concluding that nothing productive would come from such an impulsive reaction. Even if Eggman didn't hinder the attack on his brother, Tails knew that, waiting outside the room, the very robot that had got a hold of him, squeezed the breath out of him, thrown him inside a inner compartment and had made a hasty retreat was ready to resume bruising Tails' lungs. Every robot, Tails had firmly told himself, would be against him, not realising that their Master wasn't who they thought it was.

That being said... where was Orbot and Cubot?

He looked down and studied the contraption that had been 'given' to him; he had a tight bracelet strapped to his wrist, a device that would prevent him from wandering past a certain energy barrier that surrounded the room he was in. One step outside the barrier and Tails would be out for the count - just as Sonic was as Tails' large robot came in and took the hedgehog away with Ira following behind, barely throwing a farewell over his shoulder.

There was little Tails could do apart from wait and watch and keep on the alert which meant, for now, cooexisting with Eggman.

* * *

The partnership of Tails and Eggman wasn't an unusual one and during the times when they were forced into an alliance against a common enemy, they had proven that their combined skills were a force to be reckoned with. This time, however, Eggman and Tails had been forced into an alliance against their will, as prisoners, and their goals could not have been more different.

Tails was focusing on helping Sonic, on looking for a way out and getting word to the others to make the certain oncoming rescue mission easier.

Eggman was focused on finding his own answers and, ultimately, work on his own plans.

Surprisingly, Sonic's treatment wasn't to Eggman's taste.

He wasn't calling for a little common decency or that the Blue Blur be comfortably accommodated in First Class or anything of the sort. Rather, Eggman merely wished that he, himself, be in charge of Sonic, as he felt was his right. A little part of him did take what Sonic had said to heart; what _would_ happen if he were trapped for too long?

"As soon as you bottle the wind," he had mumbled to himself, "it ceases to be the wind."

"...'_And the wind rendered me mad and deaf and blind_'..."

Eggman blinked and turned a bewildered face toward the golden furred fox, leaning against an empty desk. "What?"

"If we were coming up with quotes about the wind..." Tails shrugged.

Eggman wrinkled his nose. "I was not inviting a conversation."

Tails had learnt to mask his fear of Eggman and, to the untrained eye, he appeared nonchalent. "...My quote was Edgar Allan Poe..."

"I don't care."

Now Sonic was gone, there wasn't much to occupy oneself with but Eggman didn't want to appear desperate by leaving the room just yet. He instead focused on what his brother had left behind, rising to his feet, still cradling his precious robot and checking him over carefully.

"A lot of good you've been for your rat of a friend," he quipped to Tails. "Didn't see you put up much of a fight."

"Sonic's a _hedgehog,_" Tails snapped back. "And anyway, let Ira think I'm useless. People are easier to fool when they think you're weak. I've got quite far by being underestimated."

Lugging the heavy weight of Metal Sonic up onto a workbench, Eggman skillfully hid his bared teeth. Loath as he was to say, Eggman could not deny that Tails was right: many a plan had toppled simply due to leaving certain 'unimportant' chess pieces out of the picture.

Ira had the 'King' firmly in his grip, that was true, but even the so-called 'Pawns' had the power to triumph over other pieces, with or without a prominent commander.

Out of wanting something to do, Tails padded over to watch Metal's repair work. Eggman may not have wanted conversation, but there was no way Tails was going to sit like a good boy and roll with what was happening around him.

"So now it's just you and me, what's going on?" he asked suddenly, "Why are you and your apparent brother targeting Sonic all of a sudden? If it was power you were after, you could have just gone for Knuckles or Shadow or Silver or Blaze or... or anyone with that sort of power, I guess. What is it about Sonic that you're looking for?"

If he had been waiting for the scalding remark or a withering look, he was let down tremedously, for Eggman, considering Tails' question in his mind, set down his screwdriver and smiled.

"Did you know that Sonic shouldn't be alive?"

The fox flicked his left ear, uncertain he had heard correctly. "I'm sorry?"

Eggman waved a hand at the neightboring bench. "Pull up a chair - you'll want to get yourself comfy."

Half an hour later and Tails now knew the same story that had been told to Sonic.

He sat in silence, his brain whirring with new information about the one he claimed to know best.

Eggman, on the other hand, as if re-telling the story had been the final straw, thumped his fist upon the desk.

"It just NEVER MAKE SENSE!" he roared in his own frustration, unloading everything he had on his chest upon the young fox. "How?! How is it scientifically possible? He should be DEAD! There is no possible way... The Chaos Emerald _erupted_. Literally. Its entire power was detonated like a nuclear bomb. That was pure Chaos energy in its unadulterated base form, the very element that tears atoms apart like jigsaw pieces!"

A tool box was pushed to the ground, spilling its contents over the floor.

"I saw it with my own eyes," Eggman fumed. "We all did. There was nothing left of the emerald. Nothing. It emersed itself into Aleena and targeted those embryos like a lightning bolt - faster than you could blink!"

Now his voice became a whisper, the spent energy leaving him breathless. He stared at his hands, begging them with his eyes to give him the answers he craved.

"It was _raw_ Chaos energy... It was raw. He should be dead. Sonic took the full amount of it, soaked it like a sponge, which spared his unborn brother and sister... He should have died. A living, breathing, grown creature could not have handled it... So how could he have survived? ... He shouldn't. He should have died in the womb. He should never have been born."

The jaw clenched and now his voice began to rise once more.

"But he was," he growled, straightening up and curling his hand into a fist. "The last of the litter to arrive... the first on his feet. As blue as the Chaos Emerald... It never made sense. It never MADE SENSE! He should be DEAD!"

Tails stepped away from the maddened man, a little more afraid of him now.

"You see how he vexes me?" Eggman whirled round to face him. "Do you see why his whole existance infuriates me? I saw his mother take the brunt of the energy. I heard her screams." Beads of sweat had formed on Eggman's forehead. His brow, permenantly wrinkled from the years of frowns he had laid upon it, quivvered as his eyes pulsed. "She should only have had _two_ children," he panted, "But she didn't. She had _three. _She had _Sonic_. He_ lived_." His rant now complete, Dr Eggman collapsed into a chair. "And ever since," he groaned, "I've dearly wanted to find out _how_."

On the wall, a dusty old clock _ticked_ and _tocked_ away, the hands grinding on... and on... and on...

"Sonic's special."

Eggman knew not if he should laugh or scream. "...Is that it? A young, intelligent man of science such as yourself and...that's it? That's all you can say?"

Tails had never asked for Sonic's story.

Never.

To him, it mattered little where Sonic came from or how he had aquired his speed.

All that did matter was that he had been there to save Tails from himself when no-one else could, naming him and, in Tails' own words, becoming 'his mother, his father... and his picket fence'.

Was Eggman expecting anything more?

So he asked, "What did you want me to say?"

The stinging truth was that Dr Eggman didn't know.

_...Aboard the ARK, a genius at heart, wanting to unlock...the mysteries of life...I am the Eggman..._

A quiet chortle echoed around the room.

"...Sonic's special," Eggman repeated Tails' words to himself.

Yes, if Sonic was anything, he was that.

As though in retaliation to this claim, Metal Sonic suddenly spurred back into life, his limbs jolting as his systems rocketed online, causing him to roll off the table and crash to the floor. Tails kept his distance, leant against the far wall while Eggman patiently waited for his beloved robot to gain a sense of mobilitiy.

"Feeling better?" he asked rhetorically, knowing full well that Metal was unlikely to answer him. Sure enough, the metal hedgehog cracked its joints and relished in the feeling of electricity bolting through his copper veins.

"If you're awake then that can only mean Sonic is waking up too," Eggman commented, more for Tails' benefit than for himself.

One set of silver claws lifted and gripped the table, using it as a purchase for heaving the rest of his spindly body up off the ground to stand on his red-painted feet. He slowy examined his surroundings, reestablishing his position, blindly ignoring Eggman but allowing his blood red glare to settle on Tails on the other side of the room.

Growling, he had only to take an aggressive step in the fox's direction before his creator cleared his throat.

"Metal?" he warned. "Not yet. If you want something to do, you can go and find out where my brother has stored your favourite organic."

Though Tails' presence was enough to drive Metal mad, the thought of Sonic surpassed any ill-will he may have wanted to bestow on the fox and he took his silent leave a mere few minutes after coming online.

Eggman resumed his position at the desk and did not utter a single word.

Tails knew there was plenty for him to tinker with and do in a research laboratory but with Eggman still here, how was he supposed to do anything to get word out to the others?

And how was he supposed to rescue Sonic?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ‘picket fence’ line from Tails was one of my favourite quotes from Adventures of Sonic the Hedeghog.


	22. Take Your Positions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone and everything is set in preparation for all hell to break loose.

_Drip. _

_Drip. _

_Splish. _

_Splish. _

If nothing else, Sonic's new home was certainly musical... and a little cold.

Underneath the factory, Eggman, in his Dr Robotnik days, had constructed a stone waterway for his secret underground dealings with whichever dodgy lowlife who was attempting to bargain with him for five minutes of 'not being shot at or roboticised'. It was also a clever means of slipping a few battle-ready robots out without anyone noticing.

For Sonic, it was your classic medieval dungeon, complete with metal bars, chains hanging from the ceiling, no heating, iron rings in the walls and only a smattering of straw fresh from a barn.

Yet behind the mask of a draughty stone waterway dungeon there was a fully functioning secondary laboratory, a back-up lab, with strong electrictiy lines running from the higher levels to the discretely hidden desks and computers dotted about the place.

In time, Ira decided, he would arrange to have all the power restored to the factory so that the underground lab could function again but, in the meantime, he was more satisfied with watching a restless blue hedgehog pace his cage.

"Roomy enough for you?" he asked pleasently, making an obvious point in not addressing the issue of the manacled ankles that were lashed to the wall.

Sonic hadn't uttered a noise since waking up and his mouth was still firmly shut. It didn't mean, however, that his eyes weren't allowed to shoot glares at his would-be tormentor.

"Now come on," Ira pouted, "you haven't spoken a word to me since you got to the island. You can't give me the silent treatment forever, you know."

Sonic flicked an ear and turned his back.

"Come to think of it," Ira frowned, "the only time you did talk to me was a few days ago and before then you've _never_ spoken to me. Ever. Not even when you were a little spike-ball."

He was trying, of course, to provoke the hedgehog into talking. Anything was better than being ignored.

"Don't you want to know?" Ira went on asking, hoping for a reaction. "Not interested in how you came to be all alone in the big bad world?"

Defiant silence.

"I'll give you a hint - it's thanks to me. My brother doesn't seem as threatening anymore, does he?"

Sonic was still standing motionless, his back to the human, not even gracing him with a movement from any of his quills.

"Go on then, ask away. I know you want to. You're dying to know what happened."

_Drip. _

_Splish. _

_"_Fine then. I won't tell you," Ira huffed. "But just get it through your thick skull that, as soon as I've got all I need from Ivo, _your_ life's purpose will be to keep _my_ life going."

His exit was watched in Sonic's peripheral vision but the hedgehog wouldn't turn until he was sure that he was gone.

Now by himself, the speedster bared his teeth and angrily growled, throwing his weight back against the bars of his cage and kicking his legs furiously. He had enough strength in his calves alone to snap a chain but when tightened with the wall, a surge of electricity shocked him, deterring further thoughts to pull at his bonds. 

If he were still alone in this mess, Sonic may have simply continued, regardless of what pain was dished to him but... he wasn't.

It was a dirty Robotnik trick to use close friends as leverage.

Thinking of Tails elicited another snarl and Sonic threw his stiffened spines against the bars again, more out of frustration than anything else. There were probably security cameras around but Sonic didn't care about that.

From the bars, Sonic turned his frustration towards the walls, arching his back and hissing as he rammed the stonework over and over again, gouging deep scratches where his quills had made contact. It wasn't until an old quill finally snapped and dropped to the floor that Sonic relented and stood on his wobbling legs, breathing deeply.

Several things had bombarded him over the course of a few days and it was starting to catch up with him.

Seeing Tails had been the final straw.

And somewhere, deep inside, his rage and frustration was dabbling the Chaos energy stored in his body, threatening to turn cobalt blue to navy.

* * *

One thing that Ira hadn't been expecting when entering his brother's study was the sudden appearance of Metal Sonic.

"Metal!" Ira gasped and smiled. "You made me jump. Hope you're all up and running again."

Sitting down at the computer, it took a mere second to realise that it was already switched on and, on screen, were the words:  
"_**dOCtoR EGGMAN is nOt yOur PRisonEr, yOu sAiD?"**_

Ira swallowed as his throat went dry.

"I know it looks that way, but I assure you that it isn't so," Ira told the robot, trying not to tremble at the steely gaze of the red optics. He would have to match confidence with confidence. "I was not aware that your creator's well-being was a concern of yours."

The computer crackled a little.

"_**yOur oBjeCtIVes dO noT hArMOniSe. yOur goAL is unKnOWn**_**.**"

Ira stroked his goatee. "...If I tell you MY goal, will you tell me my brother's?"

Metal's circuits gave a whirr.

"You do know what Eggman wants, don't you?"

"_**hE waNts whaT hAS aLwAYs beEn waNTed - thE cOmPLETioN oF hIS EmPire.**__" _

"I meant in regards to Sonic," Ira went on. "What is it that he wants with him?"

_"_ _ **...tO be fReE oF SONIC's iNteRFEraNce buT iDEalLy NOt oF SONIC hIMsElf.** _ _"_

It wasn't the answer Ira had been expecting.

"So he wants him alive - ideally. What for?"

The computer screen fizzed a bit as a momentary static gripped it.

"_**yOu aRe iN no poSitIon tO dEmanD anSweRS FRoM mE.**_"

A cold droplet of sweat ran down the left hand side of Ira's face and he smiled falsely.

"...Of course," he chuckled nervously. "I... am not your master. I suppose there is only so much I am allowed to know."

Metal's head rotated to the side, eerily staring at Ira in a slight tilt.

"_**SONIC's liFe is tO kEep yOur liFe gOiNG. tHAt is whAt yOu SaID**_**," **he typed on screen.

Ira actually broke the skin on his lip as he gave it a particularly hard gnaw.

"And that is what you heard," he murmured, cursing that he had neglected to check for eavesdroppers. "Well, you're Sonic's virtual twin, programmed with his life data. Shouldn't you be able to deduce for yourself what 'Project Eclipse' is?"

At voicing his own plans, a slight moment of power uplifted Ira Robotnik slightly, his passion for what it was he was doing causing him to lose a fraction of his fear.

"In the event of a Solar Eclipse," he explained smugly, "the light of the sun is obscured by another celestial body, usually the moon, preventing it from reaching the earth, shrouding its people in darkness."

The click of the computer halted him.

"_**wHerEUpoN thE mOON rEtAIns aLL sUNLighT foR iTsELf.**_"

"Exactly," Ira nodded. "Somehow, Sonic absorbed all the raw Chaos Energy of an imploding Chaos Emerald, preventing the untimely death of both his siblings and his mother. That was before they met me, of course. My brother will find out how Sonic was able to be born and, when he does, I shall use that information to unlock the secret of eternal life."

"_**nO hUMan or aNIMal sHoULD poSSesS knOWlEdGe suCh As thAt.**_"

"Who is to say that I will still be called human when I cure myself of _time_. All living creatures die; they're imperfect. Robots die too - there is evidence of that down in these factory vaults. Calling myself a human when I have the powers of immortality would be... insulting."

Metal hadn't moved but his optics continued to flicker and pulse.

"_**do yOu imPLy thAt SONIC is IMmoRtAL?" **_

Ira paused, counting the seconds that passed until he was sure that he had come to a reasonable conclusion.

"...Not his physical body, no."

Metal Sonic straightened and turned smoothly to leave.

_"_ _ **i wiLl reSUmE gUardIaNshIP oF yOur FoUNtaIn oF youTh.** _ _" _

"There's no need," Ira called after him. "You are free to leave now."

The text on the computer screen said otherwise.

_ **"i dO iT foR My OWn dEsirEs. NOt yoUrS."** _

* * *

The doors swept open with barely a breath while Orbot and Cubot hovered above the threshold proudly.

"And voila!" Orbot chirruped, moving to one side as Sonic's friends filed through, one by one.

"Much obliged, I'm sure," Blaze murmured by way of thanks.

Omega was bringing up the rear, not as grateful for the assisstance as the others were.

"**I am perfectly capable of supplying robotic expertise,**" he felt the need to growl as he approached the door, making sure to narrow his red eyes at Eggman's two lackeys.

"We're sure you are," Orbot assured the larger robot. "We're...well, we just wanted to help."

Of all the allies, Omega harboured the most personal grudge against any Eggman robot, dismissing them as traitorous filth to be destroyed if they chose to serve their creator. While Orbot and Cubot were the least objectional creations that Eggman had made, Omega still resented them for doing the evil man's bidding and he made sure to let them know about it.

"**Recall that you are here to guide us to Sonic and nothing more,**" he warned the two robots. "**There is no place for turncoats among us.**"

"But we ain't wearing coats..." Cubot whined.

Ignoring the stupidity of the yellow henchman, Omega lifted his great chest and strode confidently through the door, his swinging arms and his heavy footfall making it clear that he was superior to the smaller, more slender, robots.

"Touchy fellow, isn't he?" Orbot commented to his partner.

"They say there's always a rebel in every family," Cubot agreed. "Typical E-Series."

"Now, Cubot, show a little respect. Dr Eggman was very proud of the E-Series, despite the trouble some of them caused him." Orbot took off his invisble hat and solemnly held it to his chest. "Rust well, E-Series."

"What I don't get is why they all **talk like this** while we seem to talk normally."

"You never talk normally, Cubot."

Meanwhile, the Allies were making short work of ransacking the workshop for anything that would help. There were EMP blasters, laser cutters, saw-blades... anything and everything that someone might need; Tails had been impossibly busy over the years since his younger adventuring days. The only question remaining...

"Who knows how to fly a plane?" asked Shade, scratching her head thoughtfully as she looked up at the mighty Tornado which took centre position in the middle of the huge workshop.

"I can!" Charmy announced proudly. "Tails gave me flying lessons. I can pilot the Tornado no problem!"

"That won't be able to take us all," Big mumbled. "Some of us are... Erm... Heavy."

"Doesn't he have some kind of airship? Passenger plane?" Silver asked desperately, looking through Tails' aircraft files. "Hot air balloon?"

"I know who _does_ have an airship," Knuckles grunted, glancing out the window, "but the day I ask _them_ for help is the day I roll over and chuckle."

"Who?" Amy asked, joining Knuckles.

The thrum of engines drowned out the natural birdsong outside as a large shape appeared in the sky, shrouding Tails' house and workshop in a chilly shadow. The pink hedgehog ground her teeth and released a large sigh.

"Oh," she groaned, "them."

The Babylon Rogues descended in their usual fashion: with flair and pomposity, dancing their way down on the air currents as they perched on their extreme gear.

"You might just have to chuckle, Guardian," Espio murmured in sympathy.

"Look, we'll handle this," Amy told them, heading towards the doors. "You carry on getting ready."

* * *

Like Cerberus guarding the gates of hell, Amy and Knuckles stood beyond the workshop hanger doors, gazes fixed upon the great Babylon Airship that took anchor a short distance away.

Jet was in the lead, as usual, hopping off his board and tucking it under his wing to stand proudly with his chest feathers fluffed up for maximum show.

"Now this is quite a crowd," he said in greeting, nodding towards the workshop where the ally group was nearing the completion of their preperations.

Amy tactfully stifled a sigh. 

"What do you want, Jet?" she asked, not exactly politely but not exactly rudely either.

The green coloured hawk clacked his beak a little.

"Heard the news about Sonic," he snipped hurriedly, tightening his hold on his board.

Amy shrugged.

"So, what, you came to give your commisserations?" she asked with a frown. "Now's not the good time for a face-rubbing."

"Yeah, we guessed that," Storm murmured in his deep voice. "That's why we're here." His grey feathers floofed in aggitation when his echidna rival cracked a fist in his direction.

"I'm warning you, featherbags," Knuckles growled, "if you try and stall us..."

"Nah, Red, nah!" Storm dismissed with a firm head shake. "Just wanted to hear what was what, is all. Right, Jet?"

"Right," agreed his leader. "Can't have our favourite boarding rivals down a racer, can we?"

Knuckles grunted in sheer annoyance. "We haven't got time for any of this. If you want to help us find Sonic and Tails, on the other hand..."

"The Shrimp too?" Wave commented in surprise, speaking up for the first time since their arrival. "What on earth has been going on while we've been away?"

"The media don't know about Tails yet," Amy admitted. "Won't be long before they do."

Storm cocked an eyebrow at Knuckles.

"So you're all that's left of Team Sonic, eh Red?" he whistled. "Boy, wouldn't like to be you - I'd be worried about turning my back. Anyone out to be rid of _you_ yet?"

"Knuckles _isn't_ all that's left of Team Sonic," Amy made quick work to inform. "The rest of the Allies are joining forces to find him and Tails. Are you in?"

Jet poked a tongue and ran it along the sharp upper edge of his beak.

"As a matter of fact," he replied, "the real reason we're here was to offer a wing of support."

"And what's in it for you? What do you want?" asked Knuckles suspiciously.

Much like Rouge, the Babylon Rogues were kleptomaniacs and had a cargo of stolen goods up on their airship. Favours were only given in return for something shiny or valuable or, preferably, both.

Jet, on the other hand, flexed an unused wing muscle (for Mobian anthropomorphic birds seldem flew on their own anymore) and tapped a foot. 

"All I need from you chumps is a good race once everything is over," he answered. "Think you can fork that over?"

Despite himself, Knuckles smirked. "You know we'll throw it down any time, any place, beak-lips."

"Then that's settled." He twirled his gear and looked beyond Knuckles and Amy. "Is there anything we can do to help, _allies_?"

Knuckles could feel Amy's eyes on him.

"...Actually," the echidna sighed, "we've a favour to ask..."

At which point, he gave in and let out a half-hearted chuckle.


	23. Discoveries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Allies prepare for their incursion, Dr Eggman reveals his discovered theory to Tails.

The house was far too quiet and empty; even the chiming of the mantlepiece clock wasn't enough to provide any real sense of comfort.

For the first time in all her life, Rouge felt lonely.

Curled up in her chair with her wings standing in as a make-do blanket, she could only resort to the power of television to distract her but even that was proving difficult as every news story would only prattle on about Sonic's abduction and the thought of an impending attack from Eggman. If it weren't for the Sonic Allies, the chances were there would be panicked citizens rioting in the streets shouting that the world was as good as doomed.

"_...till no news on the whereabouts of Sonic the Hedgehog. The President has issued a worldwide petition for anyone who has any information to come forward..._"

Rouge shook her head. She could only imagine the headlines if they discovered Tails was also gone:

"_PANIC RISES AS SONIC THE HEDGEHOG'S DEVOTED PARTNER IS TAKEN!" _  
_"ATTACKER STRIKES AGAIN - MILES "TAILS" PROWER DECLARED MISSING!" _  
_"HOG-SNATCHER TURNS FOX-SNATCHER: IS ANYONE SAFE!?" _  
_"ALLIES PUT UNDER GOVERNMENT PROTECTION AS SECOND DEFENDER IS TAKEN!" _

All Rouge could do was hope that her friends would all be ok and not foolish enough to throw themselves into a stupid situation. Knuckles, especially, had to be back safe in order to be there for the birth of his child.

The bat shifted uncomfortably. In a way, she had to confess, she wasn't really alone anymore.

A much younger Rouge might have said that a baby was nothing more than a cute parasite which stole the food a mother ate and would continue to rob you of your life for the years that followed after its birth. She hadn't even considered if she was ready or not to start a family but, that was that. It had happened.

And trust Omega and Shadow to find out before her!

All they knew about the baby was that it was an echidna - or a small brick as far as Rouge was concerned. As far as gender went, no-one had a clue.

Her computer gave a trill, snatching her attention away from the TV. Muting it, Rouge climbed to her feet and tiredly opened the sent message.

"_Rouge,_" read the message, "_we're headed to the Abandoned Isles to rescue Sonic and Tails. You're in charge until we get back. Probably best you rest up and don't get involved in this. Love you. Knuckles X."_

They had gone without her!?

"That rotten, no-good, spike-fisted, big-headed, mud-digging, lipstick coloured SWINE!" she shrieked, pinning back her ears and flapping her leathery wings angrily.

Another blip on the screen. Another message.

"_PS. Shadow told me to send you this message after we'd left so there was no chance of you talking me out of it. In a funny way, I kinda miss you bat-girl. Stay safe - both of you. We'll see you when we get back."_

"Oh and that sooty, soft-brained, quill covered ball of-! Ultimate Lifeform MY BACKSIDE!"

In her frustration, Rouge drew back her manicured paw and smacked a vase clean off the desk she was sat at.

"Traitors! Every last one of them are traitors. Surrounded by traitors!" As an afterthought, Rouge gently put her hand on her stomach. "You're going to have to learn this one day, kid," she murmured, "you can't trust anyone. And it's thanks to you that I'm suddenly told to sit down like a good little girl and snuggle up safe and warm."

It went to show just how emotional she was starting to feel as a hot-blooded determination rose up from inside.

"Rest up and don't get involved, eh?" she hissed to herself.

So just because she was 'with child' she had to roll over and play the helpless damsel? Stand on the train station in her flour-stained apron and wave her dainty handkerchief as her beloved went off to war without her?

If Rouge was anything, she was a rebel. She knew it was risky and she knew she'd get into trouble, but she was a woman scorned and she reasoned that a little back up was better than no back up.

Just as if she'd gone back in time and returned to her teenage years, Rouge went sneaking from the house and hurried up the shrine to the Master Emerald. She knew it was her husband, really, that could truly communicate with the mighty jewel but they had been married for three years and surely that was enough time for the Master Emerald to establish a connection.

Mind you, the Master Emerald was (pretty much) Rouge's in-law and some in-laws (not all) needed time to warm up to new family members. Standing in front of the Master Emerald, Rouge felt shy for the first time.

Viewing the stone as a treasure was easy. Viewing it as a part of the family suddenly made things awkward.

"So, er..." she gulped, thinking how Knuckles addressed his charge. "...Mighty Master Emerald? I... I'm worried about your Guardian and the rest of our friends. Tell me, please, where are Sonic and Tails? How much danger are they all in for? I know they can handle themselves but I'm... unsure."

The Master Emerald was shining a little brighter, sensing Rouge's distress and the precious life she was carrying.

"Is there anything you can tell me? Anything at all?"

Staring into the glass facets of the emerald, admiring their lustrous shine, she was reminded of Knuckles' unease when the Master Emerald had started getting 'twitchy'. Perhaps it had pre-sensed the calamity with Sonic. Perhaps it was something different.

As for right now, the Master Emerald... said nothing.

Rouge sighed in defeat. What right did she have to demand things from the Master of all Emeralds anyway? If she was going to do something worthy of a Sonic Ally, she was going to have to do it like everyone else did it:

Wing it.

* * *

"_O' wind, beautiful wind, __I want to see you.  
__Where you come from, where you go, __You bring his thoughts while you blow.  
__I grow weary for I miss him. __Bring the message of my dreams.  
__O' wind, beautiful wind, __I want to see you.  
__I can feel you but wish to touch you. __I can hear you but wanna talk to you.  
__When you pass by me, __I feel my love's touching me.  
__O' wind, beautiful wind, __I want to see you_."

"What you waffling on about?" Wave asked, pausing as she strode by Amy who was sat in a window seat with a book in her paws.

Amy did her level best not to appear annoyed and, keeping a calm demeanor, she simply turned the page. 

"I'm not _waffling._ I'm reading."

Birds didn't have visible noses to wrinkle but they could twitch their beaks to give a similar expression.

Giving such an expression, Wave rolled her eyes. "Sounded slushy."

"It was a romantic poem about the wind."

A mischevious sparkly appeared in Wave's eye.

"...Oh." Sniggering behind her glove, the swallow continued on towards Jet's room.

"Joanna Kantharia, if you're interested," Amy called after her.

"Which I'm not."

Knuckles only dimly recalled Wave passing by him with a smug air of authority but, otherwise, the activities of the others were ignored and he remained a silent figure in the corner, casually daydreaming out the window, watching the blue ocean pass by and trying hard not to think of Angel Island nor of what kind of precarious situation his best friends had been thrown into.

"I_ said_, how far out are these islands?" Shadow's voice sounded irritably beside him, finally drawing his attention.

The Ultimate Lifeform did not like to be ignored but none had the stomach to tell him that his planted hands on hips, the tilt of the head and the slow foot-tapping resulted in an uncanny resemblance to Sonic.

It was still unclear as to why the three male hedgehogs bore suck striking similarities.

"Don't know, I've never been there, myself," Knuckles hurriedly replied. "Tails has."

"Doesn't help us much, now does it?" Shadow sighed, still looking and sounding like Sonic.

_Perhaps_, Knuckles thought to himself, _it was Shadow's way of coping_. 

"You never asked for help though, did you?" he said aloud. "Guess the ones you'd have to ask are Orbot and Cubot."

The two Eggman robots were up front with Jet, steering the Hawk in the direction to go and keeping out of Omega's way as much as possible. Shadow had thought about cornering them and getting a little information but...

"...Getting worried yet?"

Knuckles raised an eye. "About what?"

"About what you're going to have to deal with when you get back home," Shadow smirked, resuming his more Shadow-like stance once again.

The echidna, to Shadow's worry, smirked back. 

"Don't worry," he assured him, "I implied it was your idea."

"You went and did _what?_"

"Ah, you can handle her. She's one of your best friends, isn't she?"

"She's _your_ wife!"

"Who was it again that wanted to set us up six years ago? Uh... Oh, yeah. You."

"And in my attempt at humour, I foolishly thought it would be funny."

"And now look where we are. Karma does that."

The argument was interrupted by Jet's voice over the loudspeaker: 

"_Ladies and gents, this is your Captain speaking_." The Sonic Allies each took turns to either roll their eyes or mutter something under their breath, wondering just how long Jet had waited to refer to himself as Captain of a ship. "_We're coming up on the Abandoned Isles and beginning our descent. Our destination is Christmas Isle, coming up on the left_."

"That bird is all beak," Knuckles huffed.

"So to recap," began Espio. "We're still going in two teams, yes?"

"Team 1 should go in first," Knuckles nodded. "Punch a way open, clear out the germs, make a path for the next team or, failing that, provide a handy distraction."

"Which is where we come in," Blaze took over. "Team 2 storms the castle, discovers the location of Sonic and Tails, meets back up with Team 1 - with or without the dynamic duo, depending on how much we're able to accomplish."

Vector rolled one his shoulders. "Then it's a final smash, grab and leg it, right? From the sounds of things, this place of Eggman's won't have that much power. Don't reckon the Robotniks have all their robots up and running yet."

"Don't forget about Metal," Amy cautiously warned, hugging her poetry book to her lap. "He's in there somewhere."

It was a discomforting thought; most of the team hadn't had to deal with Metal Sonic for years.

"Time check?" Silver asked quietly to which Espio replied,

"7:32pm."

Knuckles rapped his namesake against the door of the 'Captain's Cabin' "Take her down."

* * *

"Sonic died."

It was the revelation of the century.

Eggman and Tails sat across from one another, either staring into one another's eyes or staring off into nothing, unable to comprehend Eggman's wild conclusion from the data they had studied.

Thanks to Metal, Eggman was able to send for more blood and fur samples from the Prison, ordering for them like a customer at a restraunt which, truth be told, made Tails' insides fold over. He had refused to picture what it was Metal had to do to collect such samples from Sonic but this new statement from his brother's arch nemesis was now consuming his thoughts.

"He died," Eggman repeated, breaking from Tails' gaze and drifting off into his own fantasies. "I said it wasn't possible for him to have survived and... and I was right. He didn't survive. He died in the womb. The Chaos energy instantly killed him - just like I said."

He had been stooped over his microscope like an old piano player could be seen stooped over his ancient instrument, one hand twisting dials and the other tapping away at the computer beside it, bleeping out the results from the many tests done on Sonic's blood. After one such tweet from the screen, Eggman had then lifted his head, stared at the fox in front of him and had annoucned his discovery.

"Moves pretty well for a dead hedgehog," Tails murmured, not certain whether to believe him or not. His emotions were in constant turmoil, refusing to do anything to aid the Robotnik brothers and yet still curious as to what Eggman would discover while also being furious with himself for not doing anything to try and help Sonic who was slowly being sucked dry of blood at this rate.

"...The embryo died." Eggman was still talking to himself at this point - or so Tails' thought. "What is an embryo?"

"An unborn baby," Tails answered with a frown, walking round to read the computer screen.

"But more than that," Eggman pressed. "What is an embryo?"

"A fetus," Tails answered again. "A collection of living cells that are growing together to form a completely new individual." His voice was quieter now that he saw the information on the screen for himself.

The energy inputs in comparison to the extreme energy _outputs_ was astonishing. Sonic, much like Shadow and Silver, could absorb residue Chaos Energy like a sponge, soaking it up in areas where you would not think a Chaos Emerald could possibly be. Sonic had been here for several days, away from Chaos Emeralds - there was nothing for him to abosrb and yet the readings indicated that... Well, he didn't need to absorb anything. His body readouts were showing signs of Chaos Energy radiating from his own self.

"...'New'... " Eggman echoed, repeating what Tails had said, drifting off into his own thoughts yet again. "A _growing_ embryo. Not fully formed. Alive, but not ready to _live_. It's a pure soul."

"...I... I guess so."

"They say an embryo's heart begins to beat before the mother even knows its there." Eggman took a step back, his genius mind whirling. "And that was enough for the Chaos Emerald."

Tails read and then re-read the computer results but he wasn't able to change their meaning.

It was just as Eggman had told him: "The embryo that was _meant_ to be Sonic died. Couldn't handle the energy, like I said. ... But he hadn't grown - he'd been grow_**ing**_... All his parts, his DNA, his blueprints... they were all there. So what does the powers of Chaos choose to do? It killed an innocent, unborn life... What does it do?"

Silence.

"...Brings it back," Tails replies, the dawning of realisation coming upon him. "Sonic died..." such words didn't sound right, "and Chaos energy... brought him back to life."

"Not just that," Eggman grunts. "Chaos energy completely reconstructed him. It killed the embryo so, to make up for it, it takes the DNA and the genes and the blueprints and simply fixes it. Carries on the work that Aleena's body now can't do for a dead child."

The laugh in the room comes from Eggman, but it isn't real. It's forced.

"Sonic was literally born of Chaos. Runs through his veins like lifeblood."

Silence.

"Interesting."


	24. Closing In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Sonic and Tails surrounded by enemies, the Allies have arrived to finally shake up Christmas Isle.

Metal was back again. He watched his organic 'twin' balancing perfectly on his hands in an elegant handstand in the centre of his cell, head hanging between his shoulders and his strong back arched as he bent his powerful legs over behind him. It was as though he were in the middle of a yoga workout.

"Haven't you taken enough?" Sonic sighed, a murmur befitting some kung-fu master as he spoke to a potential challenger. "If Eggman wants more he's going to have to drain it from my cold dead body because I'm done."

"_**No more blood samples are needed**_."

Metal Sonic's voice always seem to echo in the back of Sonic's head, slow and quiet, whenever the robotic hedgehog telepathically communicated with him. Prolonged conversation was a quite literal headache.

"So, he's got all he wants?" Sonic smiled grimly, stretching one leg up in the air and then the other with barely a wobble in his taught arms. "Good for him."

"_**Would you like to know**_?"

"Know what?"

"_**What he has found**_."

Sonic gave a scoff and continued his balancing routine like the natural gymnast he was, curling his much prided legs around over him and turning on his palms as though he were showing off in the Olympics, lost in his own little dance.

"I have high amounts of Chaos energy thanks to being influenced by a Chaos Emerald before I was born. I don't need to know more than that," he replied sharply, lifting up onto one hand to stretch his arm out, keeping his balance, then repeating the process with the other hand. "If you're really in the mood to answer some questions though," Sonic then muttered, "then, by all means, answer me two things - where is Tails and is he okay?"

From within Metal's throat sounded another harsh clunk. 

"_**Your companion is with Doctor Eggman**_," he replied. "_**I have not bothered to check his status**_."

"Then go do that, would you?"

With a ferocious snarl, Metal Sonic slashed at the bars, almost ripping them from their place.

"_**How dare you try and give me instructions, inferior animal**_!" he roared, privately trying to override his initial programming that kept him from working outside his coded perimeter and work freely as he had once done before, when he no longer needed commands. Having spent so long out for the count, the overriding process was taking a while.

"Sorry," Sonic smirked, twisting his neck to peek at Metal in an upside down position, not at all sorry. "I just thought that, since you're taking orders from everyone else, a quick skip up to the lab and a friendly 'how are you?' was an easy enough errand." 

The blue hedgehog shivered and recoiled as a piercing, high-pitched noise stung his brain. It took a lot of effort not to fall.

_**"...I am taking no orders**_."

Not appreciating Metal's retaliation, Sonic did his best to shake it off and smile again. "Says Egghead's data delivery boy. And the only thing that the other moron up there hasn't had you doing is his laundry. You've been threatening me a lot with talk of having your own 'desires' as you call them but, face facts: you're all talk at the moment."

A more timid person would have folded under the glare of Metal Sonic.

"I suppose you can't be blamed. You have been shut down for nearly ten years, after all, so the old processor is probably a bit rusty, eh?"

"_**Very soon**_," Metal promised, "_**I won't have need of any orders. I will be free to do what I like - and the first thing I'll do is cut out your tongue**_."

Sonic pulled in his chin and dropped into a roll, his momentum bringing him back up on his feet whereupon he turned and leant his shoulder against the wall, folding his arms and crossing his ankles in a leisurely 'cool-guy' pose.

"_Then I'll be giving you a lot of grief up here, buddy_," he purred in his head.

Metal may have been preparing a comment back but he was interrupted by the arrival of Ira, striding in confidently, his pride at assuming near total command of the facility practically radiating off him in palpable waves.

"Afternoon, boys," he greeted cordially, planting himself beside the robot at a safe but polite distance. "How is my future life support system doing?"

His question, directed at both hedgehogs, robot and biological, went unanswered audibly. Sonic's quills tightened slightly but, besides that, he made no move to bother saying anything. He sprang up at the metal bars over his head, as though he were working on his upper body strength but rather than do that, he instead flipped round with natural acrobatic grace and hooked his calves over to hang like a bat. The ankle chains _tinked_ musically as he did so.

Ira scratched at his toilet-brush eyebrows. 

"Full of spirit and energy, I see," he chuckled dryly. "Good, good. I hope the exercise facilities have been to your liking?" 

The giant hamster wheel at the back was a recent eyesore.

"_Tell him to get lost_," Metal heard in his head as Sonic started to exercise on the bar.

"_**Tell him yourself, coward**_."

Ira gave an indignant hiss as he heard the internal clicking of Metal's processor replying to an invisible message. 

"It's rude to talk behind someone's back."

"_Who's talking behind whose back_?" Sonic smiled, closing his eyes and keeping his mouth firmly shut.

"Metal Sonic?" Ira growled. "What is he saying?"

Unfortunately, the computer was upstairs in the office. Metal stared impassively up at the human and said not a word.

"Well... Well, it doesn't matter." Ira folded his arms and stuck his Robotnik nose in the air. "It doesn't matter because my brother has been making progress. He thinks he knows how you survived being born."

"_The same way any other baby survives being born_," Sonic muttered inaudibly. "_The sheer will to live is just too darn worthwhile_."

"And as such," Ira continued, "I now am one step closer to harnessing the extent of that information."

"_**Worthwhile**_?" Metal growled, not letting Ira know about their continued communication by keeping his attention on the man. "_**A helpless sack of meat that needs air to live is hardly a worthwhile life**_."

"_But at least it IS life and we're born with that. Machines like you have to learn it. Like Omega did. And Gamma_."

"By the end of the week," Ira crowed. "When the Blue Chaos Emerald is in my possession, you and I will be ready to begin Project Eclipse."

Sonic stopped exercising. He dropped back down and took a gulp from his beaker of water.

"You may be wondering what Project Eclipse involves," Ira said, aware that the blue hedgehog wasn't going to be answering him. "You'll spend the rest of eternity wired and plugged into a machine. Using an artificial circuit, your blood will be extracted, your biological Chaos energy will be filtered from it, and your blood will then be refortified with the energy from the Blue Chaos Emerald where it will return to you to be naturally processed back into your own energy. Then the cycle will begin again. The energy bled from you will be used to keep me alive and healthy for millennia."

Ira's intent was that Sonic would either recoil in fear, in disgust, in loathing, or lash out in fear, in disgust, in loathing.

The hedgehog did neither. As though he hadn't even heard the man, Sonic stood beneath the single light bulb in his cell, straightening his spine and stretching his quills in pleasure, completely at ease with his place in life. Ira's patience had long been gone, utterly spent, so he did not break down into fits of anger as one may have predicted he would.

"Tell him that, would you?" he muttered to Metal, gliding away to deal with other business. Metal Sonic hardly had to tell Sonic anything.

"Why do these science freaks keep forgetting that I'm not the only Chaos Being alive?" Sonic complained, kicking his running wheel to start it spinning.

"_**You're speaking of the Ultimate Lifeform and the Hedgehog from the Future, aren't you?**_"

"Is that your way of admitting that you can't remember their names?" Sonic laughed. "It's like these guys don't even think about Shadow and Silver. And it's not just them; what about Knuckles? He's got gallons of Chaos energy running through him."

"_**The Echidna's energy is impermeable. The Master Emerald protects him. As for your fellow hedgehogs... I do not believe they were born with their own energy; it is only absorbed via the Chaos Emeralds and stored for later use. Their bodies do not create it naturally**_."

"So? What difference does that make?"

"_**Have you so little interest in how it is you are able to function, Sonic? Is there nothing about you that you are not bothered by?**_"

"Well, yeah!" Sonic nodded, jumping in the wheel and starting a 'strolling' jog for his chained ankles prevented him from running at too high a speed. "I mean, I've always wondered why, despite my colouring, I look good in practically anything I wear. You ever see a blue hedgehog work an orange onesie and purple crocs? I almost made the front page in the newspaper with that."

There was no answer. Metal had excused himself.

"Seems I lose more friends that way." Regardless, Sonic almost had all that he needed. He just needed to wait for the right time to escape.

* * *

As had been previously said, the vast majority of Christmas Isle was flooded. The rising sea levels had claimed most of the land and where thriving towns had dwelt there now remained only a smattering of little buildings, huddled like penguins in the centre of the isle, the residents being too old or too sentimental to abandon their place of birth. Yet fleeing was still an option open to them, not because of the ever increasing risk of being flooded, but because of the threat of a familiar menace.

Overshadowing the hamlet was a large hill which had long since sheltered the people from bitter storm winds and back in Mobian history small children would oft run up the hill to play.

None would dare do such a thing now. For upon the hill stood the ever watching Robotnik Factory, an ominous crumbling ruin of metal which had thrown its skeletal presence down upon the island for the good part of 30 years. It forebodingly reminded the people of when it was dangerous to go out alone, of when the risk of slavery hung over everyone's heads, of when it was perilous to even think of wandering near the place for fear that you might never been seen again - in an organic state.

Though the factory had been (supposedly) abandoned, the remaining Mobians on Christmas Isle had felt a new unease creep over them; sounds had been heard from the factory.

* * *

A short distance away, the Babylon Rogues had 'parked' their craft near the shore and the would-be rescuers were in sight of the village. The fields all around were dry and barren and the only movement came from a chilly wind that made the creaking trunks of the ancient spruce trees wobble.

"For a place called Christmas Isle," Charmy remarked, "it doesn't have a lot of cheer, does it?"

"Name comes from the old speech," Espio, beside him, replied, reading from a small article he had printed off from the data bank. "_Chriso_ and _Masme_. Chrisomasme Island."

"And what does that mean?" asked Big to which Espio simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Like I have any idea. People just figured it's easier to call it Christmas Isle."

"Chrisomasme," Shade echoed quietly, humming to herself. "Sounds like ancient Hedgehog tongue." To the looks of surprise she was given, Shade rolled her eyes. "I was there you know, 4000 years ago," she told them. "I remember hedgehogs being the planet's dominant species before their decline."

"I have it on file that there were more of the echidna species at that time."

"Hedgehogs were the more _dominant_ species - not necessarily the most numerous."

"So what does Chrisomasme mean then?" Knuckles asked her, partly wishing no-one had opened their mouth in the first place.

"Don't ask me!" Shade scoffed. "I barely got by with figuring out what my own kind were saying, let alone the dialect of another species." She then gave a very pointed look at Knuckles.

The Echidna tribes developed their own accents and expressions back in the ancient times and those of the Nocturnus Clan often made a point of pointing out how primitive those of the Knuckles Clan spoke. Knuckles, of course, was blissfully unaware of this and could not fathom why Shade looked at him with such frustration.

"That's Eggman's laboratory, yes?" Shadow was the one to steer the focus back on the mission at hand, glowering up at the shadowy ruin of a building at the top of the hill. Hovering in front, Cubot started a sarcastic slow clap.

"Let's give the Ultimate round of applause for this guy." It was quite the wrong thing to say.

"Making fun of me, you oversized paper weight?" the Ultimate Lifeform growled warningly.

"Stow it, Shadow. We haven't got time for this," Amy sighed and then faced Orbot. "How do we get inside without being noticed?"

Orbot cleared his robotic throat and began to explain. "Most of the..."

"**Most of the outside security systems will be non-functioning to conserve power**." Omega was still feeling sour, it seemed and he hadn’t appreciated Cubot’s sarcastic clapping at Shadow.

Orbot twitched an optic. "However..."

"**However since the capture of Sonic the Hedgehog, we may presume that many security systems will have been brought online within the base of operations**."

Planting his hands on where his hips would have been, Orbot lifted his head. "...Fortunately..."

A long pause ensued.

Omega wrung his hands together. 

"...**Fortunately**..." he finally repeated, fumbling for words. "**Fortunately**..." Orbot was readying a triumphant robotic smirk. "...**The weather forecast promises clear skies for the rest of the evening**."

"...Fortunately," so Orbot triumphantly smirked, "Cubot and I know another way in that bypasses the main security system and avoids the robot sentries."

Omega tried persuading himself that he had been just about to say that.

"Team 1 goes in first with one of these guys and Team 2 follows later with the other, right?" asked Silver, stretching his arms in readiness, eager to channel a little of his energy into doing something relatively worthwhile.

Knuckles gave a firm nod. "Right. Ball bot, lead the way."

Deeming that it was to him that Knuckles was addressing the statement, Orbot lead the way towards the factory, making a point to assure the echidna later that he was no Ball Bot.

* * *

While Team 2 waited for the signal to move in, a purple coloured swallow was watching the events from one of the windows of the airship. They had been so eager to scramble off their craft without so much as a thank you and for what? To loiter about in the open?

"So what are we actually doing here, Jet?" she asked sharply, folding her wing arms over her chest. "You want me to go look around that village for anything worth our time?"

Jet was in his usual position, lounging like a king in his chair, feet kicked up on the desk in front of him. 

"We're already doing something worth our time," he told her, eyes closed, rolling a golden coin around his fingers.

"Come on, boss, I'm bored!" Storm complained, kicking at the rug from behind the hawk. "Can't we go grab something to eat?"

"There's nothing out there, Storm. You won't find a guy selling hot dogs on this island."

"Well I didn't want hot dogs..."

"Just sit down and pipe up!" Jet snapped, throwing a kick in the direction of the Albatross' whinging. "We've got a job to do, you know."

"Are you being serious?" Wave groaned. "You're actually, _genuinely, _being serious?"

Jet opened one blue eye at her. "About what?"

"Helping these guys!" Wave gestured a firm hand toward the window where Team 2 were still awaiting their call to action. "Helping these guys rescue _Sonic_, of all people. You're being serious about all of that."

Jet smiled and closed his eye once more, tilting his head back against the velvet of the chair.

"Tell me one thing, Wave," he murmured through his beak. "When was the last time you had the most fun out of life?"

A little insulted, Wave gave a huff, "What's that supposed to mean?"

The emerald coloured hawk stopped playing with his coin and stared up at the ornate ceiling of his office.

"Just for a second," he said quietly, "think about everything you've done. When have you had the most fun?"

"I don't know," Wave shrugged. "When I race, I guess."

"And when have you had the most fun racing?" The awkward pause was enough to tell Jet that he had Wave on that one and she knew it.

"...That's not the point." Wave turned her head away to stifle a furious frown. "Competition requires rivals and you're making it very hard to distinguish rival from friend."

Jet let out a chuckle. 

"You don't count them as your friends?" he asked teasingly.

"I sometimes wonder if I count you two idiots as my friends," Wave pecked back.

"_I'm_ your friend, Wave," Storm piped up, crawling out from behind Jet's chair towards her. "Promise."

Wave leant against the wall and chanced another look towards Team 2. 

"Yeah, well..." she began but wasn't entirely sure what it was she wanted to say. "Well, whatever. This is still stupid."

"Wanna know something?" Wave and Storm looked at their leader who had just spoken. "Me and Sonic are one thing but you guys... Heh. Gotta admit I don't think I've seen you both step up your game quite as quickly unless the fox and echidna are in the race."

"I know I'm better than that red furred bozo!" Storm snapped. "He's just a dumb knucklehead."

"And what does that make you, chicken brain?" Wave laughed before correcting herself and frowning at Jet again. "And you're wrong. I don't get all excited just because the Shrimp happens to be racing against me. It's a matter of who has the better gear and that shorty reckons he knows Extreme Gear better than I do. I just race to prove him wrong." She would have lifted her beak in the air proudly but Jet wasn't looking at her.

"And you love it," he smiled, cuddling down further into his plush chair and fluffing his chest a little. "Anyway, racing losers gets boring after a while. Figured a change of scenery and some added excitement might just put us in the right move to help out our favourite competitors and win us a little, you know, publicity."

Wave shook her head and took a step towards the door.

"You're getting soft-boiled, Jet," she threw over her shoulder.

"_'I wonder how the little squirt's been doing...'_"

Wave stopped in her tracks. "What?"

Jet grinned triumphantly. "Just quoting what you said a few days ago. That's all."


	25. The Robotnik Facility

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Sonic Allies begin to advance, the Robotnik brothers each make advancements of their own.

Never had their feet and breaths sounded so loud.

With the exception of Espio, one who had devoted his life to harnessing the powers of stealth and invisibility, the progress of Team 1 could hardly be described as quiet and the infuriating thing was that there was nothing that could be done about it. Their only consolation was that the walls of an old steam-hatch, by which they were entering the facility, were incredibly thick and unlikely to give away their position to those that may or may not be anticipating their arrival. The steam-hatch was an old ventilation system, dusty and rotting with the progression of time, which had once been called upon to extract the pent up steam from the holding room and expel it to prevent rust and mould. Before it was demoted to holding scrap and old familiar faces, the room that Team 1 were heading to was used as for maintenance, a lounge, as it were, for a robot squadron. A robot squadron long discontinued.

It was surprising that there were any robots left for the Sonic Allies, and Team Sonic in particular, had done a marvellous task of sending each rogue bot to whatever purgatory limbo they awaited after being destroyed. The thought that there may yet still be more robots in stasis, dormant until called for, did not sit well.

Voicing this concern, Charmy was the first to add his whispered tones to the echoing steps in the steam-hatch tunnel.

"How many robots has this Ira Robotnik got on call?" he asked.

Orbot, in front, was lighting the way with his blue optics and so did not turn his head to speak.

"Only those that were kept at this facility which amounts to around 30," he replied.

"Just 30?" Vector smiled, daring to hope that they weren't in for too rough a time.

"They're rather large," Orbot warned. "Of course, they weren't as efficiently designed to combat the likes of you back when they were built. Their programming was originally centred around Sonic alone but they will attack anyone perceived as a threat."

"And you're certain that we won't be bumping into any where we're going?" Charmy chanced to ask, aware that though their ally wasn't exactly a threat and had a reputation for leaking information to Team Sonic whenever it deemed it necessary, he was still an Eggman robot and one of his right hand henchmen. Charmy could fool an ignorant bystander into thinking he was still a child but the first thing he had grown out of was his naivety.

Orbot's optics dimmed as a faint glow appeared a few meters in front of him. 

"See for yourself..." he murmured, opening the way into the robot storage.

The vast, high-ceiling room, built like an underground library archive, was immense and provided a maze of walkways and rows upon rows of robotic debris. Dust hung heavily in the air and easily clogged the throat if one was to breathe in too deeply.

"What's... What is this?" Knuckles choked, his senses of smell and taste gradually becoming overwhelmed with the stench of rusting metal corpses amid puddles of dried oil and battery discharge fluid.

"The Crypt," Orbot shivered, continuing down one corridor of shattered motorbugs towards the area where previous Eggman henchbots were kept, "It's where all Eggman's robots were put to rust when their time was up. Or, more commonly, where the remains of Sonic's victims were chucked before they could be melted down to make new robots. Those that played important roles are kept preserved. For memories sake, I guess. Cubot and I hate it here so you can trust me when I say that no functioning robot will be finding us here."

Then, of course, they passed by the room at the back, still glowing blue.

Orbot stopped, circuitry fizzing in a way that a heart might skip a beat. 

"...Oh..." he remembered.

"What now?" Shadow muttered, eyeing the room as though threatened by it.

"Of course," Orbot squeaked, "there is the issue of one robot that may disturb us..."

No-one needed further clarification.

Not many could truthfully say that they had missed the deranged blue hedgebot and though Amy's warnings had been carefully accepted and considered, they only now seemed to truly hit home. Perhaps there had still been the silent hope that Metal Sonic wasn't involved at all and there had been no need for such worry. Those hopes were sorely dashed.

None, least of all Knuckles, could deny that the holding room was for Metal. It had a certain flair to it that Eggman kept only for his favourite.

"B-But... but he should be more occupied with Sonic for the present," Orbot's quiet voice spoke, betraying his own fear.

Shadow glanced at the red robot with a piercing gaze. "You're sure of that?"

"...It depends how far the two of them have got since our absence."

"Far? What exactly are the two of them doing?"

"Cubot said something about Project Eclipse."

"Project Eclipse?"

"I take it that it has nothing to do with the sun?" Espio grunted with his back to others, always on the lookout for any possible robot zombie out on a little sleep-walk. The darkness of the room made it impossible to know, for certain, what could be lurking out of sight.

"It somehow involves Sonic," Orbot was explaining, in the meantime.

"Of course it does," Shadow huffed, "Everything involves Sonic. Nothing happens on this planet unless Sonic's involved somehow. Centre of his own universe."

"Did yer happen to find out where they're keepin' Sonic?" asked Vector, stepping away and giving a wide berth to a leaking trail of diesel that snaked across the path. It still looked fresh.

"No," Orbot said in answer to the croc's question, moving slowly towards the double doors at the end of the room. "Cubot and I left before his abduction. We only knew how to get you in."

Espio's fingers toyed with a shuriken. 

"Then we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way. Stealth and planning," he said, cautiously following.

"Can't be too long," Vector reminded them all. "Team 2 will come in lookin' fer us unless we keep constant contact."

Omega hadn't moved very much. He had rooted his feet and grown silent, taking in all that was around him.

"Holding up okay?" he heard Shadow ask. The black and red hedgehog was at his side, peering up into Omega's eyes with genuine worry for his robotic friend. It was easy to read what it was that Omega was thinking, surrounded by the dead remains of other Eggman robots.

The E-Series let out a whirr and Shadow sighed.

"I know, old friend. I know."

* * *

There was an old saying: an animal backed into a corner will fight.

"Comfortable?" Ira asked, as he always did when entering the prison complex and, as usual, received his routine glare from within the only occupied cell. "Even now, you still aren't talking to me?"

Sonic glowered at Ira with all the contempt an Egyptian cat might cast upon a tyrannical pharaoh. His disgust was only amplified by the presence of Metal Sonic, quietly standing in the back.

"According to my brother," Ira remarked, "I should apparently be thankful for small mercies."

His lanky form glided across the floor towards the nearest computer terminal and, with a flick of a switch, suddenly awoke the area in a chorus of humming machinery and buzzing electricity.

"I don't need your voice anyway..." he chuckled darkly. "Just sit there quietly. Metal? If you would make him ready?"

Perhaps it was because he had been trapped and confined behind bars too long, had his legs restricted for a day too far, but the time spent of being deprived of freedom was eating away at Sonic so much that he actually shrank back from Metal Sonic's advancing figure.

Was it fear? Was it anxiety? Was it anticipation? Sonic couldn't say.

He simply did not trust himself at the present time to do the sensible thing. Reflecting on this, Sonic gave in to a rueful smile; of course when had he ever done the sensible thing?

So caught up was he in his uncertainty, Sonic had his wrists tethered to the wall along with his ankles before he could properly fathom what it was that Metal had been sent to do.

Now trussed up like a criminal awaiting torture, Sonic deemed the time was right to focus on escape as soon as the next opportunity came up. From his imprisoned stay he had successfully pieced together the motives behind his enemy and was now, in theory, better able to work out a solution to rectify the problem. 

In _theory_. 

The added complication of having Tails in the picture was only going to make it more of a challenge - something Sonic wasn't too afraid of.

"Okay," Ira's voice suddenly interrupted him, clearly addressing Metal, "you're dismissed for the time being. Go torment your underlings or something."

Metal Sonic, to Sonic's surprise, did not give a final fleeting glare before he strode from the room which, Sonic hoped, meant that Metal was expecting to see him again. Meaning that Sonic wasn't going to die from whatever was going to happen. Mind you, there were times when death was actually preferable...

"...How much do you know of your family, Sonic?"

The hedgehog, testing his wrist bonds, immediately felt his prickles tighten. This again?

"How much has Ivo told you? Do you even remember them?"

Eggman had been kind enough to tell Sonic a story, that much the hedgehog knew. The reliability and truthfulness of said story had yet to be discovered. Still, the topic of his roots was one that Sonic considered private and so he stuck to the treatment he had given Eggman's brother from the moment of his capture: the silent treatment. Ira barely frowned being so used to Sonic's silence that he had actually come to accept it.

"The funny thing is - you should do, shouldn't you?" he continued, idly turning a dial that caused a groaning noise to grow louder and louder and louder... "That's what's bothering you. You were at an age that you SHOULD remember last seeing your family."

Sonic yanked at his wrists and ankles again, suddenly aware that although he wasn't going to die, Ira clearly had something in mind for that precious energy that Sonic was just so naturally adept at storing in his muscles.

"Now, I wonder why you wouldn't remember..."

A push of a button caused the lights to dim and for a cringe-worthy screech of metal sliding into metal to sound out. Sonic couldn't see where his bonds went to beyond the walls of his cell but now it dawned on him that Metal had probably hooked him up to something terrifyingly scientific.

"Of course, it's my brother's word, and his word alone, that you have to go on, isn't it? I mean, if you can't prove the story for yourself then what CAN you believe?"

The drone of machinery was almost unbearable to a creature so sensitive to sound such as a hedgehog. The scent of fuel and burning electricity was enough to make Sonic's stomach churn but there wasn't anything he could do. Had Ira truly been serious in what he had said? 

"_Is he going to try and take my energy_?"

"Can't trust me...can't trust him..." Ira coiled his cruel fingers around a lever. "What a confusing muddle we land ourselves in, eh?"

Sonic grit his teeth. No, he wasn't going to die from this - but it _was_ going to hurt.

"One thing I am certain of, however, are your Chaos Energy levels," Ira smiled. "It doesn't matter what backstory you make up for yourself, you can always rely on good old Chaos Energy to tell the Fool's Gold from True Gold."

From within Sonic's glassy green eyes shone a moment of disbelief. 

"_Does he honestly think that Chaos Energy is exclusive? EVERYONE has Chaos Energy in them - we breathe the stuff in for crying out loud_!" It was how those such as Tails were able to achieve a Super State. Okay, so they had a time absorbing it to sufficient levels (unlike certain members of the hedgehog species who lapped up Chaos Energy like sponges) but it was still a present source flowing through each and every living thing on the planet. "_I just... I just have more of it than the average joe. That's all_."

It was the first time he had trouble convincing himself.

"_That's all_."

"Between you and your friends..." (Oh so he **was** acknowledging the others.) "...there's an absolute Goldmine of Chaos Energy to be found - but they'll be time for them later."

"You leave them alone!"

Ira blinked at Sonic and Sonic blinked back. They were alone in the room.

Ira's face actually softened. 

"...Really?" he whined. "You choose _now _to start talking?"

Sonic shut his mouth, fuming with anger. Ira rolled his eyes behind his glasses.

"Typical." His hand then pushed the lever down.

* * *

Tails looked up sharply upon the flash of movement passing by in his peripheral vision.

"Where are you going?" he snapped, stopping Eggman's hand as it moved over the key pad that would open the door.

The scientist curled and stretched his lithe fingers. 

"I've finished my work," he replied. "Now I'm going to go and sit down somewhere comfortable and read a book."

The fox frowned at him, gripping the screwdriver in his paws tightly as though he were wringing someone's neck.

"That's it?" he scoffed. "What else are you going to do?"

"I might make myself something to eat..."

"What are you going to _do_, Eggman?" Tails barked sharply. "This isn't the end! You're not going to let your brother do whatever he's going to do, are you? You wouldn't let him."

Eggman spun around and crossed his arms, his moustache twisted up as he smiled. "Why not?"

"Because," Tails told him, "you're not like that."

"And you would know, would you?"

"After a decade of this?" Tails gave a chuckle. "Yeah. Sonic might not be able to remember much about his first encounter with you but I remember MY first encounter. And I've remembered everything you've done since then. You went from sinister tyrant to desperate scientist and now you've been starting to merge them together." Tails stood up from the stool he had been perched on. "I've noticed."

Eggman pursed his lips. 

"I'm a desperate, tyrannical, sinister scientist?" he murmured to himself, a delight shining from his aging face. "I believe that's the most heartfelt compliment you've ever given me, Tails."

"Well I could be completely wrong," Tails pointed out, putting the screwdriver down. "Maybe you're not the guy that had his..." he broke off and twitched his ear, "I was going to say 'heart'... but I'm not sure that's scientifically correct." Eggman leant against the wall, amusement now replacing delight. "Maybe you're not the guy that had his entire life set on owning the world. Or are you?"

To that, Eggman gave a cackle.

"You do have a cruel sense of humour, don't you?" he grinned, wiping away an invisible tear behind the lens of his right eye. "Talking about my hopes and dreams when you're one of the poisonous little bullets that shatter them."

Tails looked away with a sneer on his muzzle. Considering the Eggman Empire as a hope and a dream was wrong. It was totally, utterly wrong. But... what Eggman said was true; it was his hope and dream.

"I may not be able to create the Eggman Empire at this rate," the human murmured, "but I have Sonic. And that's just as good."

Tails' paws curled into tight fists. 

"Doesn't Ira have Sonic?" he hissed between teeth. It wasn't really a question - it was more a statement.

"Ah!" Eggman chortled, "That's the question. _Does_ he?"

The fox still had his head turned away but he heard the rise and fall of Eggman's feet as he opened the door.

"...Thank you."

Eggman hesitated. 

"For what?" he asked, masking his obvious confusion.

A little smile had found its way on Tails' face. He took up his screwdriver and let his fingers dance it around.

"I know what you're doing," he said.

Eggman was going to leave him alone. Leave him unguarded. Leave him to free himself.

The man's lips tightened.

"...Oh please," he sighed. "Don't go getting the idea into your head that I'm on your side."

"So I give you a compliment and you repay me with an insult?" Tails laughed. "Tsk tsk, Eggman. Who has the cruel sense of humour now?"

Eggman gave the fox a single look of fondness. 

"You've gotten sharper, Tails," he mused. "Almost as sharp as Sonic's back." He may have hated Sonic, but there was still something about the hedgehog and his compatriots that interested a man of science such as himself. Tails' genius mind, for one example. "Take care of yourself," he bade in farewell, keenly aware that with Tails' escape, he would only have very little time to execute his own arrangements.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so it's absolutely clear - this is MOSTLY based off Main Game canon. Supporting characters from Sonic X, Sonic Boom, Sonic Underground, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic SatAM and the Sonic Archie Comics are purely to aid the plot where it is needed. But it's mostly Game Canon. 
> 
> Someone back on Fanfiction.net privately asked about Sonic's arm colour... My diplomatic answer is to not address the colour of his arms and therefore allow those who prefer peach fur arms to imagine them as peach or for those who are inclined to believe that Sonic's fur has grown blue over his arms through the passage of time to envison that for a more mature looking hedgehog. Personally, I don't mind. Nor do I care. I like both.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who left kudos and comments! They help motivate me to carry on.


	26. The Battle For The Chaos Born - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some Allies are trying to get in. Other Allies would like to get out. Neither task is easy.

He may have been a several hundred feet beneath them, all alone and without any contact whatsoever, nursing his wounded body, but Sonic seemed to be in agreement with Dr Eggman; time _was_ short.

He yelped as he pulled at the ankle chain and was shocked once again with a sting of electricity. His wrists had been 'kindly' released but only a fool would consider letting Sonic have full control of his most powerful limbs: his legs. Grimacing, it only reminded him that if he wanted to get out soon, he was going to have to pull up his non-existent big-boy pants, shove a stick between his teeth and take some extra temporary discomfort.

As he had been enduring Ira's brief experimentation - which had been necessarily to determine if his extracted Chaos Energy could then be re-absorbed in a continual circuit, like a blood flow - he had felt the presence of other Chaos Beings. Chaos Beings were few and far between which drew Sonic to one very welcome conclusion: his friends were here to rescue Tails and himself. He had to get out before either of the Egg Brothers made things impossible for them to find out where he was.

A cold drip splashed down onto Sonic's shoulder and it felt like the starting gun. 

It was less exhausting channelling his strength into a kick rather than a pull so, seizing the bars of the cell, Sonic prepared himself, pushing his front against it and taking a deep breath. He pulled his leg so that it was the tightest it could be without inflicting pain and then, bracing his ankle against the metal cuff, silently prayed that it would all be over soon.

Then he kicked.

After several minutes of excruciating pain, the chain snapped clean off and Sonic was welcomed with sweet relief that required him to slump to the ground and gulp in air like a fish.

"Ha, wasn't so bad," Sonic told himself. "A little static... Everyone can take a little static... I take static. I take it all the time. Generating friction with my feet and all... Yeah, that was easy. This is no sweat. Piece of...cake." He understood then, why people got so annoyed with him sometimes whenever he opened his yap. 

Now with only one channel for the electricity, karma was paying him back with a much stronger force as he worked on freeing his other leg.

"Stupid, flipping idiot!" Sonic growled in his head as his muscles spasmed and cramped under the effects of electricity's savage attack. "Piece of cake? I'll shove a piece of cake so far down that cakehole I won't be able to look at an iced bun every again!" His eyes pressed shut and a face scrunched in complete agony, Sonic wondered if he could actually physically hurt himself to distract him from 'unbearable' pain to just 'annoyingly painful' pain.

"A little static?" he laughed, "A little static!? Oh sure, everyone can handle a little static! How about getting plugged in to the planet's main electricity line!?"

He wouldn't scream though. It took a lot to make him scream and this wasn't the time for a whimper.

Other noises of distress were allowed, however.

And as the chain finally gave way, there may have been a slight squeak, much to Sonic's shame.

"Oh sweet Chaos on a see-saw in the summertime," he groaned (there were worst things that could have been said but Sonic is a good boy and watches his language), sliding down on his stomach and kicking the live chains away from him. "...My spines aren't gonna go down for, like, a month." Not that there was much time to mourn for something that trivial.

The next order of business was getting free of the cage which, let's face it, wasn't hard seeing as the cell wasn't actually designed to hold someone like Sonic who would have received VIP 5-Star treatment in his own personal dungeon had Eggman ever got a hold of him back in his younger years.

"Now," Sonic told himself, dusting himself down and making a dash for the exit, "I just need to find Tails, meet up with the others and... actually no, scratch that. I need to find Tails, smack around that other Robotnik dude, put a few dings in Metal, THEN meet up with... Ah, the heck with it, I'll smack Egghead too. Probably deserves it for something."

* * *

"I spy with my little eye... Something... Um... Something..."

"Surely we've spied everything now."

"No. I spy something beginning with... beginning with... Erm..."

"Silver, we've spied everything. Let's leave it alone."

"No, wait, I can spy something beginning with... E."

"E?"

"Right. E. Letter E. E for Espio."

"E for _Extremely Desperate_, more like."

"Emptiness?" Big was the first to guess.

"Nope."

"...Energy?" Shade's turn.

"No."

"Silver..." Blaze sighed, "Please."

"That doesn't begin with E."

"You'll be squealing 'Eeee' in a moment..."

"Epiphany?" Cream's guess.

"What? No."

"How about Ex-Boyfriend?"

Silver's big yellow eyes drooped at Blaze. "...Ouch."

"_You guys there_?"

"Hearing out loud and clear," Amy replied to her wrist. "Have you found Sonic and Tails? We clear to move in already?"

"_Nah. Just warning you that we aren't sure how many bots are lurking about so we're going slow. We'll keep you in the loop so you don't freak out if you don't hear from us_."

"Thanks for the heads up. Be as quick as you can though. We're running out of ways to pass the time and its getting dark."

"_No promises. Catch you later_." 

The line went quiet.

"...It was Evening Star," Silver moped, pointing a finger up at the first star of the evening that had recently appeared above them.

Blaze smiled and gave her boyfriend's paw a squeeze. "You can be quite cute sometimes, you know."

"I think I remember being told that, yes."

* * *

"Charmy," Vector warned in a low growl, "if yer don't quit hummin' that Mission Impossible tune..."

"All bees hum, Vec," Charmy argued as Team 1 halted at the end of a particularly damp-ridden hallway.

"Yer'll be hummin' yer stinger outta here when I throw yer at a badnik," Vector promised with a toothy grin.

Even with Orbot to guide them, the going was slow, as Knuckles had reported back to Team 2, for they had no sure way of knowing who or what might be around the next corner and they were anxiously aware that their options for hiding were severely limited, if there were any options at all.

As for finding a way back out... Well, they'd have to rely on Omega having some kind of tracker so that he could retrace his steps. The most annoying thing was that it was hard to tell, exactly, how far away the distant sounds of... was that machinery? No, some kind of power generator? Robot footsteps? The number of times they had to stop to check out what was ahead was uncountable.

"What we got, Omega?" Knuckles asked. The E-Series could generate a sort-of pulse radar, almost like Rouge's echo-location, which gave him a rough idea on how many bodies, organic or otherwise, were in the general vicinity. Omega's chest cavity gave a ping.

"**Corridor is secure**," he answered. "**Nearest target is approximately 15 meters north of our current position**."

"Don't suppose you have a reading on where Metal Sonic is, do you?" the echidna then asked, paranoid to the point of looking over his shoulder every five minutes.

"**Negative**."

"Worth a shot. How much further, Orb?"

"Eggman's living quarters are stationed on the floor above us," Orbot replied. "If we don't run into trouble, we'll likely get there in fifteen minutes at the speed we're going."

"Can't you go on ahead and maybe divert 'trouble' elsewhere?" Shadow said, cocking an eye at the bot.

Orbot, however, shrugged. "I don't know. These robots believe they still serve Dr Eggman and Ira is just a face. But Ira will know that Cubot and I know differently."

"**No robot should willingly serve Eggman**." Omega's cold gaze wouldn't allow Orbot to meet his eye.

Nevertheless, the robotic henchman seemed to give a hum of agreement. "...Well, I can't argue with that."

Espio stepped forward. 

"Let me go on ahead," he suggested. "I'll report back in five minutes." After an exchange of nods, Vector clapped his teammate on the shoulder.

"Careful Esp," he murmured, "We dunno if any cameras are operatin' in this sector." Throwing a casual, two-fingered salute, Espio shimmered out of thin air and was gone, only the gentle whoosh of thin air giving away his presence as he left. 

Shadow was immediately onto his comms.

"Team 2?" he uttered in a low tone. After a two second silence, Blaze's voice came answering through.

"_Here_."

"We're quite a way in and Orbot reckons we'll be another fifteen minutes before reaching an information source," Shadow quickly informed them. "Espio is scouting ahead at the moment. Suggest that Cubot lead you to the point of entry where we came in so you can be on standby should the situation call for it."

"_Copy that. Get a move on though - we're getting twingy_." The line went dead.

"Get a move on?" Charmy snorted. "Easy for them to say..." He broke off, however, when the sudden arrival of Espio made them all start in surprise. 

It wasn't often that the chameleon ninja wore such a panicked face.

"Apologies for being back so soon," he started in an abnormally higher pitched voice, "but I would strongly recommend retreating back to the last door we passed down this hallway." He swallowed. "And to be fast about it." He was already beating a hurried backtrack and it was all the others could do but follow, including Orbot.

"Do I want to ask why?" Knuckles grumbled, aware that it was bewildering to imagine that anything had spooked a ninja.

"Let's just say," Espio panted, "that a hedgehog of extraordinary blue colouring is heading our way." He gulped audibly and quickened his pace. "The only catch is that he _isn't_ exactly made of flesh and fur."

* * *

"Come on, come on, come on...gotcha!" The device that kept Tails inside the lab was snapped clean off and, with it, Tails' time as a well-behaved prisoner. He had done nothing to help Eggman besides hold a few books, deeming he was going to centre his brain power on helping friends instead.

Rubbing the flattened fur around his wrists, Tails dashed to a computer where a USB memory stick was busy lapping up all the results of Eggman's time studying Sonic. He had put Sonic through a lot even before Tails had arrived, apparently, all in the pursuit of finding out how good of a survivor the hedgehog really was (all in all, Sonic had been prisoner to Ira for almost three days) and Tails wasn't going to let that kind of information lie around in a place like this.

Deep down, Tails feared that it wouldn't matter anyway; anything to do with Sonic and Eggman was sure to remember it if he could. But at least they'd have an idea on what Eggman knew. In all honesty, the young fox hadn't fully believed Eggman's story and the period of time between Sonic's family being killed and the young orphan hedgehog meeting Tails was still very much a grey area, at least as far as the Allies were now concerned.

"_Did Eggman...?"_

Tails stared at the pages of documents that were flashing by at high speed as they were transferred to his device. The occasional bold word stuck in his memory.

**... ... ..Subject...**

**...Experiment...Hedgehog. **

**... be... ... Chaos Born... **  
**legacy of... **  
**... ... ... ...eternal... ... .../ ...**  
**Enigma... **  
**old...Monarchy. ... ...'... ...Transfer... **  
**Slave to... ...**  
**... ... ...Charles Hedgehog... Jules...**  
**Ogilvie Maurice... ... ...**  
**...Government... **  
**...Military... **  
**... # ... National... **  
**...weapon...**

The computer beeped, indicating that the downloading was finished. All files on the computer would be instantaneously wiped once the USB was removed and, as Tails took it, the screen went faulty and shut down.

The fur on the back of Tails' neck was beginning to prickle and the one thing about having a pelt of fur was that it was practically impossible to manage when natural instinct took over.

Foxes were predatory animals but that didn't mean they were immune to the fight or flight characteristics of typical prey animals. The sixth sense of danger was overpowering and it didn't take a genius like Tails to work out that all hell was going to break loose before long. The whole area had undergone a brief power blackout that had lasted a few seconds but when Tails had asked Eggman about it, the scientist had just pressed his lips shut and said nothing.

"_Whatever it is these guys want Sonic for_," Tails thought to himself as he pocketed away his screwdriver and other useful bits and pieces from the lab, "_it isn't going to end well with any of us_."

The words on the screen had only appeared for less than a second but they were there long enough for Tails to know that Eggman knew more than he was letting on.

The grip on the USB stick tightened.

All of that information was safely stored within.

All those answers...

With a shake of the head, Tails stashed it away in his fur and bolted for the door, hoping against all hope that his friends had a vague idea of where they were.

For now, though, all Tails was directing his attention to was finding that one blue hedgehog that he had followed ever since he was a cub.

He had promised Sonic back then that he'd always follow him into each and every trial that came their way and he wasn't going to let anyone make him go back on his word now.


End file.
